Indian accused of plot to murder Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun can be extradited to US: Czech Court

A Czech court has ruled that Prague can extradite to the United States the 52yearold Indian man Nikhil Gupta who is accused by the United States of involvement in the alleged attempt to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun Czechbased media outlet Seznam Zpravy reported citing judicial database InfosoudHowever the extradition of Gupta still requires the approval of Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek the publication reportedGupta was detained in Prague in June last year on the basis of a bilateral USCzech extradition treatyAlso Read Matter of concern India on US charging Indian in plot to kill separatistAccording to the Czech news website Gupta is now in Pragues Pankrac prisonThe Prague High Court upheld the ruling made by the firstinstance court during a closed hearing this weekReferring to Pannun Guptas lawyer Petr Slepicka in his argument at the Prague High Court stated In the opinion of the Indian government he threatens the security of the Republic of India and is a comparable threat to it as Osama bin Laden is to the USA reported Seznam ZpravyGupta has argued in his claims that the case pertaining to Pannun plot has a political or military background However the judge rejected the defence argument that it was a political caseA spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice Vladimir Sepka stated that it is unclear how long the decisionmaking process for Guptas extradition will takeThe time frame of the ministers decision cannot be predicted now said Repka according to Seznam ZpravyMeanwhile Guptas lawyer Petr Slepicka said that they will still file a complaint with the Constitutional CourtWe will file a constitutional complaint and at the same time we will ask the Minister of Justice not to extradite my client to the USA the lawyer statedMeanwhile the Supreme Court of India on January 4 declined a petition filed on behalf of Gupta for consular access legal aid and ongoing extradition proceedings in the Czech RepublicA bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta termed it a sensitive matter and said it was for the Central government to take a call if it wants to intervene on the issueThe bench said it should respect the jurisdiction of the foreign court where the matter is pendingThere is nothing much we can do This is an international matter and all aspects are covered under the Vienna Convention If consular access is not granted authorities can be approached directly However as per your own list of dates consular access was given to you twice the bench told C Aryama Sundaram representing the kin of GuptaGurpatwant Singh Pannun is an Indiadesignated terrorist who holds American and Canadian citizenshipAs per the US Justice Department indictment Indian national Nikhil Gupta is currently in custody and has been charged with murderforhire which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison Czech authorities had arrested and detained Gupta on June 30 pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech RepublicThe US Justice Department had claimed that an Indian government employee who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan had recruited Indian national Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to allegedly carry out assassination of Panun which was foiled by US authoritiesThe US Justice Department claimed that Gupta is an associate of CC1 an unidentified person who directed the alleged plot and has described his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with CC1The indictment claims CC 1 directed the assassination plot from IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever