The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday (December 21) said that Indian embassy officials extended consular access three times to Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national awaiting extradition in the Czech Republic to the US, charged with attempting to hire a hitman on alleged instructions from an Indian government official to kill a Sikh separatist.
Gupta’s family members had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Indian Supreme Court, urging the Indian government to intervene in the extradition process.
“An Indian national is currently in the custody of the Czech authorities pending a request for extradition to the US. We have received consular access at least on three occasions. We are extending necessary consular assistance as required,” Bagchi said at his weekly media briefing.
He also didn’t want to comment on the petition filed before the Supreme Court.
“The family of this person has gone to our Supreme Court and this is a process that is going on in the Supreme Court. I do not think it will be appropriate for us to comment on issues like jurisdiction. We will wait for what the Supreme Court has to say,” Bagchi said.
When contacted by The Wire after the MEA briefing, his lawyer, Rohini Musa, reiterated that Gupta had only received one consular meeting with an Indian embassy official. The petition claimed that an Indian embassy official had only met with Gupta on July 19. Another appointment had been with the embassy for a meeting, but it didn’t take place as Gupta was transferred to another prison, Musa said.
Gupta had been arrested on arrival at Prague’s Vaclav Havel airport on June 30 on ‘murder for hire’ charges filed by prosecutors of the Southern District of New York.
A new 15-page indictment unsealed on November 29 alleged that the 52-year-old Indian had arranged the handover of $15,000 to a hitman, who was an undercover officer, to kill a Khalistani lawyer. He was put on the job by an unnamed, but identified Indian government official, only referred to as ‘CC-1’ in the charges.
Also read: ‘Nick’, a Money Courier and a Hitman: What New Documents Say About the Pannun Murder Plot
While the target has not been named in the unsealed charges, he is known to be Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer for “Sikhs for Justice”, a proscribed group in India.
Last week, five Indian American lawmakers in the US Congress had received a classified briefing on the Justice Department’s indictment. Following that, a joint statement warned that relations between India and the United States could face “significant damage” if there is not enough accountability for allegations made of the involvement of an Indian government official in a plot to kill a US citizen.
When asked to comment on the matter, Bagchi said that India did take the matter seriously. “The inputs have been provided by the US side and a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted to look into all relevant aspects of the matter. This fact has also been noted by these members of the Congress,” said the MEA spokesperson.
In an answer to a query on the proceedings of the committee, he replied, “I don’t have any update on the committee or its timeline or it’s finding right now”.
A day earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said there was a “tonal shift” in India’s stance towards Ottawa after the US indictment was made public. In September, Canada had accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist, which led to India angrily stopping visa services and triggering the eventual withdrawal of 41 Canadian diplomats.
In response, Bagchi said that India’s position has remained consistent that the main issue was the misuse of freedom of expression to give space to extremist groups in Canada.