Nikhil Gupta, a man of Indian origin living in the United States of America, has been charged with the murder conspiracy of Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, who was a Khalistani leader. The case also involved an employee of the Indian government and two people from the US, but the name of the Indian officer has not been revealed by the government, and the two people are believed to be undercover agents of the US government.
The case was filed by the ‘Department of Justice’ in the federal court in Manhattan. Nikhil Gupta was arrested on June 30 of this year by the authorities of the Czech Republic on charges of conspiracy to murder of Pannu. As the name of the Indian officer has not been revealed, he is referred to as ‘CC-1’, who is said to be the ‘Senior Field Officer’ in the Indian government agency who is responsible for ‘Security Management’ and ‘Intelligence’ and also said that he had served in the ‘Central Reserve Police Force’.
Matter related to Pannu?
Gurpatwant Singh Pannu is one of the main leaders of the Khalistani Movement, which promotes the aim of a separate state for Sikhs, but in July 2020, he was declared a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs of India. In an earlier year, Indian man ‘CC-1’ came into contact with Nikhil Gupta, aka Nick, and conspired to murder Khalistani separatist Pannu. According to the Department of Justice, Nikhil Gupta later came into contact with a person said to be a criminal associate, but he was the undercover agent who was working with the US government.
Then they both met another person, a ‘hitman’ whom they hired for the murder of Pannu, but the hitman was also involved with US law enforcement as an undercover agent, DoJ added. The DoJ also said that the Nikhil Gupta has finalized the deal with the hitman for $100,000, and after giving the first installments, CC-1 has given the Nikhil detailed information about the Pannu.
Khalistani Movement:-
The Khalistani Movement is basically a separatist movement that is carried out by the Sikh people. They are demanding a separate state for the Sikh majority and wanted to create a new state named Khalistan, which means the ‘land of Khalsa’. For the first time, the movement was started in 1940 in Punjab with the help of the Indian Diaspora. Many Indian diasporas support and carry out this movement in different countries, such as Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.
Operation Bluestar is linked with the Khalistani Movement
There was a leader of the Khalistani Movement named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and his followers were demanding the creation of a separate state called Khalistan for Sikh people and were hidden inside the golden temple. The then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, gave the orders to the Indian Army to launch ‘Operation Bluestar’ that was carried out between June 1 and June 8, 1948, in which a curfew was imposed in Punjab from June 3 for 36 hours. In the operation, the Indian army moved tanks and forces into the temple, and as a result, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers were killed. This event raised the bar about the khalistani movement in India.
Recently, after the G-20 Summit in Delhi, a diplomatic dispute was created between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Now it would be interesting to see what the Indian government will react to the allegations of the US government against the Indian officer and Nikhil Gupta.
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