A failed plot to kill a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York just days after the murder of another activist was to be followed by a series of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada, according to US prosecutors.
U.S. law enforcement secretly intercepted emails, audio and video calls in which the conspirators discussed plans in the spring to kill a man in California and at least three people in Canada, in addition to the victim in New York.
This is stated in the declassified accusation.
The goal was to kill at least four people in two countries before June 29 and more after that date, prosecutors say.
Exiled Indian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18. Following this, one of the accused masterminds told the man he had hired as a hitman that he must immediately kill another activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannum.
“We have many targets,” Nikhil Gupta said, according to the indictment. – There are many objectives. But the good news is that now there is no need to wait.”
A federal prosecutor in Manhattan said in court papers that the plot to kill Pannum was led by an Indian government official.
