Won’t tolerate attempts to silence, harm our citizens: US Attorney General

Washington: As Nikhil Gupta, the man indicted for conspiring with a serving government of India official to assassinate an American citizen, pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Monday, the US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Gupta’s extradition was proof that the Justice Department won’t “tolerate attempts to silence or harm American citizens”.

Garland’s statement was reinforced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Christopher Wray who, in the same statement that quoted a range of top American law enforcement officials, said that the FBI won’t “tolerate attempts by foreign nationals, or anyone else for that matter, to repress constitutionally-protected freedoms”.

Gupta’s extradition also led to a set of five progressive senators, including former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and other Democrats who serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), writing a letter to Secretary of State Antony J Blinken expressing deep concerns about the allegation of a government of India official “as well as reports of ongoing harassment and threats against Sikh Americans”, and urging a “strong diplomatic response” to all those involved accountable.

Last year, the Department of Justice indicted Gupta for allegedly plotting to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who stands for a separate Khalistani state and is designated by India as a terrorist. Gupta, the indictment has alleged, was working at the behest of an Indian field intelligence official. The Washington Post, earlier this year, claimed the Indian official was Vikram Yadav. India has said that this is not government policy, and has set up an investigation committee to look into the inputs provided by the American side.

In the statement, Garland said, “Nikhil Gupta will now face justice in an American courtroom for his involvement in an alleged plot, directed by an employee of the Indian government, to target and assassinate a U.S. citizen for his support of the Sikh separatist movement in India. I am grateful to the Department’s agents who foiled this assassination plot and to our Czech partners for their assistance in this arrest and extradition.”

The deputy AG Lisa Monaco said that the “murder for hire plot” was a “brazen attempt to silence a political activist for exercising a quintessential American right: his freedom of speech”. Pannun, India has repeatedly alleged, has been engaged in violence and has openly threatened to use violence. Monaco added, “We will continue working relentlessly to identify, disrupt, and hold accountable those who seek to harm American citizens here or abroad.”

Anne Milgram, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, said that DEA had “uncovered an assassination plot orchestrated by an Indian government employee and Nikhil Gupta, an international narcotics trafficker”. She added that the case was “a testament to the partnerships DEA has built with our law enforcement partners around the globe, like the Czech Republic’s National Drug Headquarters, as well as our federal law enforcement partners here at home”.

Separately, five senators - Sanders, Christopher Van Hollen, Jeff Merkley, Tim Kaine, Ron Wyden, wrote a letter to Blinken on Monday to “express their deep concerns about credible allegations of the Indian government’s involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil, as well as reports of ongoing harassment and threats against Sikh Americans”. They urged a strong diplomatic response and requested a briefing on the “status of the administration’s engagement with the Indian government in this matter”.

The Senators recognised the “crucial” relationship the US had with India across multiple domains but said that the relationship must be “grounded in shared commitment to democratic principles and the rule of law, including respect for sovereignty and the individual rights and freedoms that are fundamental to any democracy”. They said that the administration “must match words with actions to hold Indian officials involved in the plot accountable, and to send a clear message that there will be consequences for such behavior”. They said that with elections in India concluded, the US must make the issue a part of its “core agenda” with India.

The Biden administration has sought to compartmentalise the issue from the rest of the relationship, indicated in US NSA Jake Sullivan’s visit to India just this week to deepen the bilateral tech partnership.