US seeking 24-year jail term for Nikhil Gupta over alleged Pannun murder plot, defence wants 12 years

US prosecutors have urged a federal judge in New York to sentence Indian national Nikhil Gupta to 293 months, or just over 24 years, in prison for his role in an alleged plot to assassinate pro-Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was designated as an "individual terrorist" by the Indian government in July 2020. (AP)The request comes ahead of Gupta’s sentencing, scheduled for November 20. His lawyers, however, have pushed for a substantially shorter term.

In a sentencing memorandum filed with the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, they pleaded for a substantially lighter sentence, backing the court’s Probation Department recommendation that Gupta serve 144 months, or roughly 12 years.

In a letter addressed to the judge, Victor Marrero, the Indian national expressed regret for his role in the purported assassination plot. Also read | Indian national Nikhil Gupta pleads guilty in US court to assassination plot against Khalistani group leader Pannun “I wish I could turn back time to 2023 and undo my mistakes.

Now, when I look back, I don't even recognise the man I had become. In early 2023, even though my life looked just fine from the outside, I was a mess. I was not me,” the letter says, detailing the 55-year-old’s problems with alcoholism.

In February, Gupta pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy charges. The case sparked controversy after US law enforcement authorities accused him of directing the assassination plot at the order of an Indian intelligence official, identified as Vikash Yadav.

India has denied any state role in the plot and said that such action is contrary to government policy. Gupta’s lawyers asked for leniency on the grounds that their client had fully accepted responsibility for his actions and has no prior criminal record.

They also cited the Probation Department’s recommendation that the sentence be limited to 144 months, despite the sentencing guidelines of 235-293 months. The defence’s key argument is to distinguish Gupta from Yadav by presenting the former as someone who acted under pressure during a request from an individual he believed represented the Indian government.

According to the defence, the pressure began when men claiming to be from the Gujarat police came to Gupta’s house in India, asked for him and left their names with his son. Yadav then offered to make the matter go away, assuring Gupta that the “fake case” was “all clear”.

The defence argued that Gupta, believing an intelligence officer was holding a criminal case over him, found it difficult to refuse Yadav’s request. US prosecutors have firmly rejected the arguments for a more lenient sentence.

“The defendant’s conduct was as brutal as it was brazen. He was a crucial participant in a foreign plot to execute a US citizen on US soil. The Court should impose a sentence that reflects the magnitude of the crime and sends a message that the violent silencing of voices in this country will not be tolerated.

For these reasons, and all the reasons set forth above, the Government respectfully requests that the Court impose a sentence of 293 months’ imprisonment,” the prosecutors wrote in their court filing on November 13. Rebutting the defence’s arguments, the prosecutors said Gupta was motivated by the desire to make profits, including from sale of weapons and drug shipments that Yadav offered to facilitate once Pannun was killed.

Gupta’s assertion that alcohol influenced his role in the plot is also an “absurd claim”, they said. “He claims that under the influence of alcohol, he would ‘make wrong decisions’ and that because of his intoxication he was ‘not thinking straight’ during the offense conduct.

That is an absurd claim. The defendant is not charged with a crime that represents a brief lapse in judgment or decision made in a drunken haze. Day after day, week after week, the defendant worked across the ocean and several time zones to carry out a murder,” the prosecution said in its filing.

Also read | India rejects Khalistani separatist Pannun's US lawsuit as ‘fabricated, malicious attack' Pannun, who was designated as an "individual terrorist" by the Indian government in July 2020, called for a maximum sentence against Gupta on every count.

In a separate victim impact statement, he argued that the assassination plot against him had impacted his life in many ways, forcing him to live with a security detail for 1,200 days and leaving him unable to meet his legal clients in-person.

He also averred that a harsh sentence would send a message that the lives of American citizens and American sovereignty were “inviolable”. Earlier, the Indian government said it took US “inputs” on the matter seriously and constituted a high-level enquiry committee in November 2023.

“After a long enquiry, the committee has submitted its report to the government and recommended legal action against an individual, whose earlier criminal links and antecedents also came to notice during the enquiry,” the ministry of home affairs said in January 2025.

Shashank Mattoo is the Washington DC-based US Correspondent for Hindustan Times. Shashank covers the Trump administration, the India-US relationship and America's policies towards South Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific.Read More