New Delhi: Indian national Nikhil Gupta — accused of attempting to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — has been extradited to the US.
Gupta is listed on the Board of Prisons inmate website as being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, which is a federal administrative detention facility with a register number “20301-511”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows Gupta’s details as a 52-year-old Asian male.
Arrested in the Czech Republic last year at the request of the US government, Gupta is expected to be produced before a federal court in New York Monday.
ThePrint contacted Vladimir Repka, spokesperson of the Czech Ministry of Justice for a comment on the development, but did not receive a response. The report will be updated once a response is received.
The Czech Constitutional Court in May had rejected Gupta’s application challenging the extradition and upholding the decision by the two lower courts, paving the way for his extradition to the US.
According to the order (originally in Czech), the Constitutional Court concluded that it “did not find any circumstance for which declaring extradition admissible would lead to a violation of any of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights and freedoms”.
It further said that the decision was “logical, factually correct and in accordance with the law and international treaty”.
Gupta’s defence counsel had also asked the court to determine if he was acting as “soldier sui generis” in eliminating a terrorist for the Indian secret service and if he could have refused the order to kill Pannun.
The Czech court, however, had rebutted this argument stating that it found it unnecessary to consider whether Gupta was obligated to comply with the murder demand due to his potential connections to his country’s secret services.
According to a statement released by the Constitutional Court’s spokesperson (originally in Czech), “he (Gupta) presented this argument (for the first time) only in a constitutional complaint. The political or military dimension does not result either from the legal classification of the crime in question, or from the act itself, or the circumstances of its commission”.
“The argument that he was hired by an Indian government agent in charge of security matters, and therefore, probably a task assigned by the Indian government (where the person who committed the crime is a “sui generis soldier” eliminating a member of a terrorist movement) cannot be a reason to deny the applicant’s edition. As stated by the High Court, the applicant is not a political activist and the act was not aimed at a change in the organisation of public affairs,” it read.
On 19 January, 2024, Gupta had challenged the decisions of both the Municipal Court in Prague (dated 23 November, 2023), and the High Court in Prague (dated 8 January, 2024), that ruled positively on the admissibility of the US’s request for his extradition. He had argued that the courts did not “properly assess the political nature of the act”, and that the “extradition would lead to a violation of constitutionally guaranteed basic rights”.
In its interim decision dated 30 January, 2024, a copy of which is with ThePrint, the Constitutional Court had stayed any action against Gupta, saying that his extradition to the US for criminal prosecution would result in “disproportionately greater harm to him than anyone else”.
After the 30 January order, the matter was stayed, and the minister of justice could not decide on Gupta’s extradition.
The US has indicted Gupta, an Indian national, with conspiracy to murder Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was a US citizen and a designated terrorist in India. Gupta was arrested by the Czech authorities on 30 June.
A document, filed in a New York district court, also alleged that an Indian government employee played a role in the “failed plot”.
US prosecutors say this “employee” directed the “assassination plot from India”.
The indictment claims that Gupta is involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking, and was recruited by the said Indian government employee.
Also read: Nothing to show US extradition would lead to rights violation — Czech court junks Nikhil Gupta plea
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
