The US government has requested a delay in the sentencing of Nikhil Gupta in the murder-for-hire case till November, according to court filings. In a letter to US District Court Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York, US Attorney James Macdonald stated that the victim in the case – likely referring to Gurpatwant Pannun – wanted to attend the sentencing hearing and would be out of the country during the previously scheduled sentencing date on September 25.
“The Government respectfully requests the Court grant a brief adjournment to effectuate the victim’s statutory rights to attend and be heard at the sentencing..The Government has conferred with the defence, which has no objection to an adjournment and is available on November 6 or 20, 2026,” reads the letter to Judge Marrero, which was filed on August 3.
Indian national Nikhil Gupta involving pro-Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in February after admitting that he had paid $15,000 to an individual in the United States – whom he believed was a hitman – in an effort to assassinate Pannun. The case caused significant controversy after US law enforcement authorities alleged that Gupta had been recruited in the murder-for-hire conspiracy by an individual employed by the Indian government. Gupta pled guilty to charges including murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The former two carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison while the third carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Gupta initially pleaded not guilty in the Pannun assassination case after he was extradited to the by the Czech Republic in 2024. According to an indictment released by US authorities, Gupta had been contacted by an individual – designated “CC-1” – in the employ of the Indian government in May 2023. CC-1 was described as a “Senior Field Office” with responsibilities related to “security management” and “intelligence”. The US government identified the official as Vikash Yadav, an official who previously served in the Central Reserve Police Force and was allegedly working in India’s Cabinet Secretariat at the time he recruited Gupta.
Prosecutors alleged that Yadav recruited Gupta in a conspiracy to assassinate a “vocal critic of the Indian government” who “leads a US-based organisation that advocates for the secession of Punjab”. The intended victim was later identified by media reports as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is a US citizen and leads the proscribed pro-Khalistan group Sikhs for Justice. Citing intercepted chats and communications between Gupta and Yadav, US authorities alleged that Gupta subsequently approached an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate of his in order to contract the services of a professional hitman. Unbeknownst to Gupta, the associate was in fact an informant for US authorities and directed him to an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman. Prosecutors alleged that Gupta, directed by Vikash Yadav, agreed to pay $100,000 to murder Pannun and paid $15,000 as an advance in June 2023.
The case also caused significant controversy after US authorities linked the conspiracy to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun with the murder of in Canada in June 2023. Nijjar, who had been designated a terrorist by Indian authorities for his association with Khalistani groups, was killed by gunmen outside a Sikh temple in
