June 27,2025
RED FM News Desk
Newly unsealed documents from the U.S. District Court in New York reveal a murder-for-hire scheme targeting a prominent pro-Khalistan activist, with alleged links to the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot on June 18, 2023, in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on Scott Road in Newton. He was found inside his vehicle.
According to the court filings, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor for the group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), was the intended target of a murder plot in New York, which investigators say is connected to Nijjar’s killing in Canada. Both Nijjar and Pannun were active supporters of the Khalistan movement, which advocates for an independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab region.
The documents allege that Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, recruited several individuals—including Nikhil Gupta—to plan Pannun’s assassination. Pannun, a U.S. citizen, claims there is direct evidence linking the plot to a member of Indian law enforcement, who is now wanted by the FBI.
Yadav, identified as a senior field officer responsible for intelligence and security, is accused of directing the operation from India. Prosecutors say he was working for the Indian government throughout the time the plot was unfolding. In May 2023, Yadav allegedly enlisted Gupta to coordinate the hit on Pannun. Gupta then contacted someone he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a contract killer, but that individual turned out to be a confidential informant working with U.S. law enforcement. The informant introduced Gupta to a man posing as a hitman, who was actually an undercover DEA agent.
Court records state that Yadav approved a $100,000 payment for the assassination, with $15,000 to be paid upfront. Gupta reportedly asked for frequent updates on the operation, including any surveillance imagery, and advised delaying the killing if high-level meetings between U.S. and Indian officials were approaching.
Gupta also indicated to both the informant and the undercover agent that after Pannun was killed, they would receive a list of other targets. On June 12, 2023, he reportedly mentioned a “big target” in Canada. Just six days later, Nijjar—described in the documents as a close associate of Pannun—was shot dead outside a temple in Surrey. On June 19, Gupta sent the undercover agent a short video of Nijjar’s body and said that this was a previously identified target.
During a phone call with the agent, Gupta confirmed that Nijjar had been on the kill list, describing him as “#4 or #3” and stating, “Don’t worry—we have so many targets. But the good news is, now there’s no need to wait.”
Prosecutors argue this suggests Gupta and his associates may have been involved in Nijjar’s murder. He also allegedly told the agent that Pannun’s assassination should proceed immediately, regardless of the risk to civilians or the possibility of political fallout.
Gupta was arrested on June 20, 2023, in the Czech Republic, at the request of the United States after arriving from India. He is currently in custody and is set to go on trial in New York’s Southern District on November 3, 2025.
The court documents further allege that there were additional planned targets in Canada. Pannun and SFJ have long claimed that the Indian government is behind both the murder-for-hire plot and Nijjar’s assassination, and that these are part of a larger pattern of transnational repression.
Pannun alleges that over 100 pro-Khalistan Sikhs in Canada are currently being surveilled as part of a so-called “Kill List,” which he says is being coordinated through Indian consulates in Vancouver and Toronto. SFJ has announced that the next Khalistan referendum will take place on August 17 in Washington, D.C.
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