Gupta’s petition, filed underneath the pseudonym “Mr. X,” is his first substantive public response to a U.S. indictment unsealed in federal courtroom in Manhattan final month. He has been charged with homicide for rent linked to a foiled plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. and Canadian citizen who advocates for an impartial Sikh state.

Still, Musa stated within the submitting that there’s “nothing on record to link the Petitioner to the massive alleged plot to assassinate the alleged victim.”

Musa complained that her shopper acquired antagonistic authorized recommendation from a Czech government-appointed lawyer “under the undue influence of … US Agencies” through the preliminary section of his detention. She chalked that as much as India and the United States “going back and forth in order to blame each other for their foreign policy.”

The U.S. indictment unsealed final month, in addition to an earlier indictment initially charging Gupta, have famous he used the alias “Nick,” which is the title {that a} confidential informant working for regulation enforcement knew him as, in line with an affidavit in assist of Gupta’s extradition that was filed by DEA Special Agent Mark Franks, as an attachment to the same affidavit filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Nicolas. Musa stated her shopper doesn’t use such an alias “and thus makes it evident that this is a case of mistaken identity.”

Last month, following the preliminary June indictment, prosecutors in a superseding indictment accused Gupta and an unnamed Indian authorities worker of making an attempt to rearrange the homicide of Pannun, the final counsel of the New York-based advocacy group Sikhs for Justice.

Court filings present U.S. regulation enforcement matched previous photographs of Gupta taken at U.S. airports with the face of the person “who paid to have [Pannun] murdered” in video name recordings with an spy and the informant to conclude that he’s certainly “Nick.”

Prosecutors stated that hours after the June 18 assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, the unnamed Indian authorities agent despatched Gupta a “video clip that showed Nijjar’s bloody body slumped in his vehicle.” Hours later, in line with the indictment, the Indian authorities agent despatched Gupta the road tackle of Pannun. The identical individual messaged Gupta two days later, saying that the assassination of Pannun was a “priority now.”

In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” that brokers of the Indian authorities had been behind Nijjar’s killing.

In the Dec. 11 petition, Musa states that Pannun is “a prominent extremist leader and a terrorist who has in the past called upon his supporters for violence,” and that the newest indictment, by accusing Gupta of searching for to have Pannun killed, has put her shopper in peril.

Pannun advised The Post he has not learn the petition and has no touch upon what it alleges. He referred to as himself a “pro-Khalistan activist and separatist who challenge[s] India’s territorial integrity openly, but peacefully and democratically.”

India in 2020 designated Pannun as a terrorist, a label he rejects.

Gupta’s lawyer describes her shopper as a “middle-class businessman … who runs a consultancy dealing with excavation and import-export and is based out of Delhi.”

Gupta was touring to the Czech Republic “for tourism and for exploring new market for his business of handicraft” when he was detained outdoors the airport in Prague and questioned in a black SUV for 3 hours, Musa wrote.

In detention within the Czech Republic, Gupta, “a devout Hindu and a vegetarian,” was “offered only non-vegetarian food including beef and pork,” and jail authorities refused to present him vegetarian meals for “a period of 10-11 days,” in line with the petition.

Vladimir Repka, a spokesperson for the Czech Republic’s Justice Ministry, stated it “does not have any information, nor has [it] received any complaints” from Gupta or his counsel that he had been offered “an inappropriate diet.”

The courtroom filings additionally include new particulars in regards to the U.S. regulation enforcement sting operation that ensnared Gupta.

Gupta apparently thought the confidential informant working for regulation enforcement was a Colombian cocaine provider, and the informant believed Gupta to be a firearms and narcotics trafficker, in line with the affidavit by Nicolas, the U.S. prosecutor. The accused’s title is redacted however the description of the person looked for extradition matches Gupta.

Gupta has identified the informant since no less than 2016, since which era the 2 have mentioned drug and firearms transactions, in line with the affidavit by Franks.

While plotting the assassination, Gupta confirmed a disregard for hurt to harmless bystanders, in line with Franks. “When you get the chance and opportunity, hit the target. … No restrictions, no limitations,” Gupta allegedly advised an spy. “If any other person [is] with him, you can give him also the taste of the [gun].”

Gupta, Franks wrote, additionally advised the informant “to kill everyone, to let them ‘go to the heaven.’”

The Indian Supreme Court is about to listen to the case once more on Jan. 4, greater than six months after Gupta was detained in Prague on June 30. Gupta’s lawyer urged the courtroom to direct Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to intervene within the extradition proceedings within the Czech Republic and safe his proper to a good trial.

Repka, the spokesperson for the Czech Republic’s Justice Ministry, stated in an e-mail that “[a]ny judicial authorities of the Republic of India have no jurisdiction in the matter in question,” and “[t]he case is under the jurisdiction of the competent authorities of the Czech Republic.”

A Prague appellate courtroom will even weigh in. The ultimate choice on whether or not to commit Gupta for extradition rests with the nation’s justice minister.

Gupta reported from New Delhi. Amanda Coletta in Toronto and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report.