An Indian government official has been accused of hatching a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist in the US.
The US Justice Department said Nikhil Gupta, 52, worked with the Indian government employee, who it did not name, to kill a man who lived in New York City.
They did not name the intended victim. Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities in June and is awaiting extradition.
"The defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs," Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement.
India's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The charges come after a senior Biden administration official last week said U.S. authorities had thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States and issued a warning to India over concerns the government in New Delhi was involved.
The official said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who says he is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, was the target of that foiled plot.
News of the incident comes two months after Canada said there were "credible" allegations linking Indian agents to the June murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Vancouver suburb, something India has rejected.
According to prosecutors, the official recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate the assassination. Gupta had previously told the official he had been involved with trafficking drugs and weapons, prosecutors said.
Gupta then contacted someone he believed was a criminal associate for help hiring a hitman, but who was actually a Drug Enforcement Administration undercover agent, prosecutors said.
The day after Nijjar was killed, Gupta told the undercover Nijjar "was also the target" and "we have so many targets," prosecutors said.
Gupta faces two counts of murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted.
The Indian government has complained about the presence of Sikh separatist groups outside India, including in Canada and the United States.
The movement is considered a security threat by India. Sikh militants were blamed for the 1985 bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Canada to India in which all 329 people on board were killed.
