Czech Republic can extradite accused Nikhil Gupta in Gurpatwant Singh Pannun case to US, says court

The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that the Czech Republic can extradite Nikhil Kumar, an accused in the alleged assassination plot of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, to the United States.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has accused Gupta of plotting to assassinate Pannun on American soil in league with an Indian government official.

The Czech Constitutional Court on Wednesday said it had rejected Gupta’s appeal against lower court’ verdicts approving his extradition, according to AFP.

The report added that the Pavel Blažek, the Czech Justice Minister, still needs to approve the extradition.

Gupta was detained at the Prague airport on June 30, 2023. He has been held in a prison since.

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What we know of the Pannun case?

Last year, the DoJ alleged that Gupta along with an Indian government agent were plotting to kill Pannun.

The Indian government has declared Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, as a designated terrorist. He is a leader of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which the government has declared as an unlawful organisation.

While the US DoJ has not publicly disclosed the name of the Indian official, The Washington Post later in a story identified him as Vikram Yadav.

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The report further said that the US agencies have assessed that Samant Goel, the chief of Indian foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) at the time, had approved the Pannun plot and that National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval was “probably aware” of it.

While India has formed a high-level committee to look into the case and address the concerns raised by the US, it has rejected the contents of The Post’s story.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called these claims “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”.

MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The report in question makes unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter.

Jaiswal further said, “There is an ongoing investigation of the high level committee set up by the Government of India to look into the security concerns shared by the US government on networks of organised criminals, terrorists and others…Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful.”