Today, Damian Willams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced charges against an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, for his alleged involvement in a murder-for-hire plot targeting a New York-based U.S. citizen who is a Sikh separatist. The plot also allegedly involved an unnamed Indian government official. These charges come two months after Canada leveled similar accusations against India over the June murder of a Sikh activist in British Columbia.
Elizabeth Threlkeld, Senior Fellow and Director of the South Asia Program, comments:
“This is a serious charge with the potential for serious consequences in U.S.-India relations over the near term. Even as the Biden administration will be keen to maintain momentum on Indo-Pacific cooperation, such a threat to a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil demands a meaningful response from New Delhi.
Should the Enquiry Commission India has established complete a thorough and transparent investigation and act on its findings, fall-out across the relationship can be contained. Any recourse to the type of public blame-shifting and counterclaims that have followed similar accusations from Canada would do more significant damage. Given alleged links connecting the plot to an Indian official as well as domestic pressures in the run-up to Indian elections, the latter approach may be tempting.
Such a strategy would play poorly in Washington and risks slowing momentum on a wide range of initiatives between the two sides. It would also call into question whether President Biden will accept Prime Minister Modi’s invitation to travel to India in January — the next high-level engagement on the horizon.
U.S. and Indian concerns about Beijing’s actions in the Indo-Pacific will incentivize continued cooperation over the long term, but these charges will add to growing concerns over divergences in our shared values. The days and weeks ahead will be a key test for two sides typically more comfortably sorting out differences in private, and for the maturity of the partnership as it weathers its most significant challenge since differences over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
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