U.S. indictment alleges multiple Indian assassination plots across North America
CBC
A newly unsealed U.S. criminal indictment has unleashed an unprecedented flood of details about an alleged plot connected to the Indian government to carry out multiple assassinations in North America.
Perhaps the most surprising allegation in the murder-for-hire indictment filed in New York state against Indian national Nikhil Gupta is a claim that there were plans to carry out three such killings on Canadian soil.
The indictment, made public Wednesday, accuses Gupta of attempting this year to arrange one killing in New York after receiving instructions from an Indian government employee.
While the charges involve an alleged scheme in New York City, U.S. prosecutors allege it's connected to a case that roiled Canada-India relations.
In a related development Wednesday, the Indian government announced it will conduct a high-level inquiry into the U.S. allegations.
The indictment says an unnamed Indian government employee offered $100,000 for a contract hit on a Sikh separatist in New York and asked Gupta, 52, to arrange it.
The Indian government employee is not named in the indictment, but he is described as having held different roles, including intelligence, security management and in India's Central Reserve Police Force.
He allegedly provided Gupta with the target's home address, phone numbers, and details of his daily routine. The Indian government employee and Gupta allegedly spoke repeatedly and also met in New Delhi.
As part of the deal, he allegedly offered Gupta a personal favour. The indictment describes Gupta as a drug and weapons trafficker and says the purported Indian government employee promised he could make criminal charges against him disappear.
He allegedly told Gupta he'd spoken with an undisclosed official about his ongoing criminal case and promised: "Nobody will ever bother you again."
Gupta subsequently contacted someone he believed was a hitman without knowing he was an undercover officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, says the indictment.
"Finish him brother, finish him, don't take too much time," Gupta allegedly told one person involved in the plot — a DEA informant who introduced him to the undercover officer.
The indictment says Gupta told the would-be killer around June to carry out the assassination as quickly as possible — but not at a sensitive political moment.
The indictment alleges Gupta said he did not want the killing to happen around the time of a high-level U.S.-India political meeting. That period coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in June to Washington.
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This First Person article is the experience of Kristine Thoreson, who lives in Calgary. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.