What if Nikhil Gupta Had Not Pleaded Guilty? Here's the Evidence the US Government Had on Him
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: During the hearing of the Nikhil Gupta’s case in the Southern District of New York on February 13, 2026, Sarah Netburn, the Chief Magistrate Judge accepted his plea. Two Hindi interpreters, Umesh C. Passi and Madhu Mishra, were present in the court to help Gupta. The hearing began at 10.20 am New York time on Friday according to the full, verbatim transcript of Gupta’s plea hearing, filed on the court docket and accessed by The Wire.
After Gupta’s plea had been entered, the court asked the prosecution if it wanted “to proffer the evidence if the case had gone forward to trial”. Camille L. Fletcher, the Assistant United States Attorney, responded by providing a breakdown of the evidence that would have been brought to the court in case Gupta had not pleaded guilty and the case had gone to trial.
The prosecutor said that the government would have presented “testimony from a confidential source from whom the defendant [Gupta] solicited the murder of the victim in New York”. It would have also provided “testimony from an undercover officer that acted as the would-be hitman to whom the defendant arranged payment in Manhattan, New York, in furtherance of the murder-for-hire plot.”
The government would also have introduced Gupta’s post‑arrest statement in which he allegedly admitted his “participation in the murder‑for‑hire plot”.
According to the government, the evidence would have included “recorded WhatsApp text messages, voice notes, audio calls and video calls” in which Gupta “solicited and orchestrated the plot to murder the victim”. It would have also provided evidence from Gupta’s “cell phones, including text messages, between the defendant and a co-conspirator showing their agreement and plans to murder the victim”.
The prosecutor would have also presented the “text messages indicating that the funds that they used to pay the purported hitman in New York originated from India”, along with a video of the USD 15,000 initial cash payment for the murder bid, made to the undercover agent in New York City.
By pleading guilty, Gupta has waived his right to a trial. It is still not clear whether his plea indicates a degree of cooperation or if it was a move to avoid a high-profile public trial that would have featured even more damaging intelligence-sharing between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration in the United States.
This article went live on February fifteenth, two thousand twenty six, at six minutes past eleven in the morning.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.