Nikhil Gupta, who was arrested in Prague after he was indicted in the United States for his alleged participation in a thwarted plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader, was moved to solitary confinement after Czech authorities were alerted about a threat to his life, reported The Indian Express on Monday.
A plea filed by Gupta’s family before the Supreme Court had highlighted the matter of his solitary confinement, calling it a “grave violation of his fundamental rights”.
The plea had urged the court to direct the Union government to intervene in Gupta’s extradition proceedings. However, last week, the Supreme Court rejected the plea, saying it was a sensitive matter involving international law.
Petr Slepicka, Gupta’s lawyer in Prague, confirmed that his client has been moved to solitary confinement in the Pankrác prison after inputs about a threat to his life.
“Yes, he is now in a cell all by himself,” Slepicka told The Indian Express. “Two prison guards always accompany him whenever he moves outside his cell. Even when I have to meet him now, there is a glass wall separating him and me.”
The threat to Gupta’s life was first disclosed in an email by Rudolf Sedlacek, the head of the prison guard department of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, to the municipal court in Prague, according to the newspaper.
In the email sent in October last week, Sedlacek had sought the court’s permission for Gupta to appear for the hearing on November 9 via video conference. The official had said that he made the request based on information from the government that Gupta could face serious security risks, reported The Indian Express.
Sedlacek added that authorities in the United States had given this information about the threat to Gupta’s life to the Czech government.
In November, the municipal court ruled in favour of Gupta’s extradition. Gupta has challenged the order in a higher court.
US allegations
On November 29, the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, announced that it had filed “murder-for-hire charges” against Gupta in connection with the thwarted plot to assassinate the Sikh separatist leader. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The office alleged that Gupta had been recruited by an Indian government employee, who “directed a plot to assassinate on US soil an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City”.
Though the statement did not name the separatist leader, a report in the Financial Times on November 23 identified him as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The United States’ Department of Justice also alleged that the plot was part of a larger conspiracy to kill one person in California and at least three in Canada.
New Delhi has constituted a high-level committee to examine the inputs.
On December 21, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that India received consular access for Gupta on three occasions since his arrest.
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