U.S. Charges Indian Man With Plotting to Kill Sikh Activist in New York

It was described as a New York hit job with international implications: an audacious assassination plot against a Sikh separatist.

The unsuccessful attempt was outlined on Wednesday by federal prosecutors in Manhattan who charged an Indian national with a scheme to kill the separatist and political activist, who is a U.S. citizen and has been outspoken in his belief of a Sikh-majority homeland. The indictment says the plan was devised by an Indian agent and was linked to the June assassination of a separatist in Canada, allegations that could complicate the delicate relations between Washington, Ottawa and New Delhi.

The hit was planned by an Indian government official who told the man tapped to carry it out, Nikhil Gupta, that there was a target in New York and another in California, according to prosecutors. “We have so many targets,” the official told him.

The indictment included a photo of a roll of hundred-dollar bills that it said was an advance payment for the New York job.

But the supposed hit man was, in fact, working for the American government.

Word of the attempted hit outlined in court papers quickly reverberated through governmental channels on Wednesday. The indictment and the killing of the Sikh activist in Canada have upended a key component of President Biden’s foreign policy agenda. Despite growing concerns about India’s commitment to democracy, Mr. Biden has been courting the country’s leaders to counter the influence of Russia and China.

The result has been expanded defense and trade ties, and regular visits to India by American officials. But the allegations that the government of India, the world’s most populous nation, played a role in the killing of one of its critics on Canadian soil and was plotting to do the same in the United States may undermine any notions of India’s reliability as an ally.

Just months ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada accused the Indian government of involvement in the June killing of another Sikh separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey, British Columbia. American intelligence agencies provided information to the Canadian government about that killing. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is conducting the investigation in British Columbia, has offered no information about its progress on the case.

And American officials had expressed concerns to the Indian government about the planned New York assassination days before the charges against Mr. Gupta, 52, were announced by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. It was not immediately clear Wednesday who was representing Mr. Gupta.

The target of the plot was identified by American officials as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is general counsel for the New York-based group Sikhs for Justice. Mr. Pannun is an outspoken proponent of independence for the northern Indian state of Punjab, which is home to a large number of Sikhs, a powerful minority group in the nation.

The goal of such Sikh separatists is the creation of a sovereign state known as Khalistan. In a region wrought both by colonial emancipation and external forces, such a division has been fraught and decades long.

Mr. Gupta, who lived in India, had told the Indian government official about “his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking,” according to the indictment. Those criminal bona fides apparently led Mr. Gupta to contact an individual he believed to be a hit man, but “was in fact an undercover U.S. law enforcement officer,” according to the indictment.

Money was soon in play: $100,000 promised “to murder the victim,” according to the indictment, including a payment of $15,000 in cash as an advance, according to prosecutors.

While Sikh separatists committed violent acts in India in the 1980s, Mr. Pannun, like Mr. Nijjar, was not involved in any terror activities, and was pursuing an independent state through democratic means, according to U.S. officials briefed on the matter.

The Department of Justice indictment shows connections between the plots against both men. Mr. Nijjar knew Mr. Pannun. Shortly after Mr. Nijjar was murdered, the Indian government agent sent Mr. Gupta a video clip of “Nijjar’s bloody body slumped in his vehicle,” according to the indictment.

Shortly after, prosecutors charge, that agent sent Mr. Gupta the address of Mr. Pannun, with a note that Mr. Nijjar “was also the target.” Prosecutors said he told Mr. Gupta that there was “no need to wait” to kill Mr. Pannun and that he was a “priority now.”

After the killing in British Columbia, F.B.I. agents warned Sikh leaders around the United States about potential threats.

After the Biden administration learned that Mr. Gupta had “credibly indicated” he had conspired with an employee of the Indian government, the White House engaged “in direct conversations with the Indian government at the highest levels to express our concern,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Wednesday.

“The government of India was clear with us that they were taking this seriously and would investigate,” Ms. Watson said in a statement. “We are providing information to the government of India to aid in their internal investigation. We will continue to expect accountability.”

President Biden directed William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, to visit India to discuss the suspected assassination plot and press the Indian government to hold those involved responsible, according to U.S. officials familiar with the events. Mr. Biden himself raised the issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the Group of 20 summit in September.

In a statement posted to the website of the Indian government’s Ministry of External Affairs, a spokesman, Arindam Bagchi, said that “during the course of discussions with the U.S. on bilateral security cooperation, the U.S. side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others.”

Mr. Bagchi added that the India government had empaneled a “high-level” committee “to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter.”

Federal prosecutors in New York said that the plot there involved several accomplices, including the Indian government official, who had a background in law enforcement.

That individual, who was not identified, is accused of recruiting Mr. Gupta, who prosecutors say then hired the supposed hit man to kill Mr. Pannun and provided personal information about him, including his home address in New York City and details about his daily activities.

That for-hire killer, however, turned out to be an “undercover U.S. law enforcement officer,” according to the U.S. attorney.

Mr. Gupta was detained by authorities in the Czech Republic in late June, according to the Southern District. He faces charges of “murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire,” prosecutors said, with each count carrying a potential sentence of 10 years in prison.

Mujib Mashal and Vjosa Isai contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.