US Indictment Sheds Important Light on Targeting of Canadian Sikhs

Ottawa (November 29, 2023):  A criminal indictment unsealed by the US Department of Justice in New York today sheds important light on India’s targeting of Sikhs in Canada. 

Today, in the Southern District of New York, a superseding indictment was unsealed which revealed murder-for-hire charges against Indian national Nikhil Gupta.  Gupta was arrested and detained on June 30, 2023 in the Czech Republic as he was traveling from India to the US. 

Gupta is alleged to have directed a plot to target a Sikh activist in the US along with an Indian government employee ("CC-1") along with other actors in India.  The victim has been confirmed to be Sikhs For Justice attorney Gurpatwant Pannun. 

Gupta worked with CC-1 who is an agent of the Government of India and a self-described “Senior Field Officer”.  CC-1 was working with a team of other individuals in India who appeared on one occasion during a video, sitting around a conference table dressed in business attire.  Gupta was told that a criminal case against him in India would be “taken care of” in return for his cooperation. 

While the unsealed US indictment contains many explosive revelations about the operations of the Government of India in the US and the targeting of the Sikh victim there, it also reveals connections to the Government of India’s operations in Canada and the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

CC-1 sent Gupta a video clip showing the dead body of Hardeep Singh Nijjar slumped in his vehicle the same day as the murder, on June 18, 2023.  Gupta revealed that Nijjar was “#4, #3 on the list” and said “we have so many targets, we have so many targets.” 

Gupta revealed to a US undercover agent that before the 29th of June “we have to finish four jobs” which included the US victim and “three in Canada”. 

WSO President Danish Singh said today,

“The unsealed US indictment’s revelation that at least three more Sikhs in Canada were to be assassinated before June 29th is startling.  India has denied allegations that it was involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar but the revelations in the unsealed indictment clearly show that agents of the Government of India were directing these operations in Canada and the US.  

The Government of India is using criminal elements to target Sikhs in Canada and the US and providing them with directions, logistics and money. The Government of India's nexus with criminal gangs is an alarming revelation from today's indictment. India is not only engaging in destabilizing foreign interference and attacking the sovereignty of democratic countries, it is also financing and supporting gangs in Canada and the US to kill citizens of other nations. 

The fact that an agent of the Government of India had video footage of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s bloodied body slumped in his vehicle the same day as his assassination and transmitted this clip is also damning. 

While Nikhil Gupta has been arrested, the full extent of the network that worked with him, including those in India, remains to be revealed.  It is clear that this network has ties to the Nijjar case.  We call on Canadian authorities and law enforcement to bring those responsible for Nijjar’s assassination to justice as soon as possible and to clearly identify those involved in the plot in India and elsewhere. 

We have known about Indian intelligence networks targeting Sikhs in Canada for decades.  It’s time for Canadian authorities to expose those involved in these networks and to hold them accountable.  Enough is enough. 

The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) is a non-profit organization with a mandate to promote and protect the interests of Canadian Sikhs as well as to promote and advocate for the protection of human rights of all individuals.