White House Dodges Pannun Plot Query as Nikhil Gupta Faces US Court on Murder-for-Hire Charges

The US on June 17 refrained from commenting on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun ‘murder’ plot. John Kirby dodged a question on Pannun coming up in Jake Sullivan's India meetings. This comes on the same day when Nikhil Gupta was produced before a US court. An Indian national, Gupta is accused of murder-for-hire plot against Gurpatwant Pannun. The 53-year-old accused was extradited to the US from Czech Republic on June 14. Upon being presented before the federal court, Gupta pleaded not guilty of the charges. Gupta faces charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. If he is convicted, Gupta will face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each charge.