No request so far on providing Consular access to Nikhil Gupta, says MEA
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the US and produced in a New York federal court earlier this week.
The United States has reportedly objected to providing defence materials to Nikhil Gupta, who has been charged with the alleged plot to assassinate Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
The US said that it will provide the requested information to Gupta, who remains in the custody of Czech Republic authorities, only after he appears in the New York court.
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The US government has sought his extradition to America and the formalities for the same are said to be underway.
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Gupta, through his lawyer, had filed a ‘Motion to Compel Production of Discovery’ on January 4 in the US District Court, Southern District of New York.
In his plea, he sought the court’s direction to federal prosecutors to provide him “the defence materials relevant to its ability to defend the instant charges.”
Following his request, the US District Court had given the government three days’ time to respond to the motion.
Responding to the court’s order, the US government said that his request should be denied during the pendency of his extradition proceedings in the Czech Republic.
Earlier in November last year, the US Federal Prosecutors had charged Gupta for the alleged assassination plot that was foiled by the US authorities.
“The defendant (Gupta) conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs,” Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement.
Gupta has been charged with murder-for-hire over the assassination plot and prosecutors said it was orchestrated from India.
The US said that it has raised the issue with the Indian government at the highest level, following which New Delhi formed a panel to investigate the inputs shared by the Washington on the alleged plot.
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