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The US government has objected to providing defence materials to Indian national Nikhil Gupta who was detained in a Czech prison on a murder-for-hire charge in a foiled assassination attempt on a Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
It said the government would provide the information only upon his appearance in a New York court and arraignment in the case, PTI reported.
Gupta, 52, was charged by federal prosecutors here in an indictment unsealed in November last year with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun, who holds dual US and Canadian citizenships, on American soil.
He was arrested in Prague, the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023, and is being held there currently. The US government is seeking his extradition to America.
Gupta’s attorney filed a ‘Motion to Compel Production of Discovery’ on January 4 in the US District Court, Southern District of New York requesting the Court to direct federal prosecutors to provide “the defence materials relevant to its ability to defend the instant charges.”
On January 8, US District Judge Victor Marrero had given the government three days to respond to the motion filed by Gupta’s attorney. The government, in its reply filed with the district court Wednesday, said Gupta’s motion asking for discovery material should be denied.
“The government respectfully submits this letter in opposition to defendant Nikhil Gupta’s motion to compel discovery during the pendency of his extradition proceedings in the Czech Republic,” federal prosecutors said as quoted by PTI.
On November 29, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen.
The US authorities had said Nikhil Gupta agreed to pay an assassin $100,000 to kill the Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.
The prosecutors had said Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, under the bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic.
(With PTI inputs)
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Published: 11 Jan 2024, 01:06 PM IST
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