SC rejects plea of Nikhil Gupta detained in Czech Republic for foiled plot to kill Pannun in US

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea for consular access moved by a family member of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who has been accused of plotting an assassination attempt on Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said, “There is nothing much we can do. You are entitled for consular access under the Vienna convention, which you have already got.” The bench told senior advocate CA Sundaram, appearing for kin of Gupta, that this court should respect the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the foreign court and law of that land and, therefore, it cannot go into the merit of the matter.

“We will not allow you to speak anything about the foreign court,” the bench told Sundaram, when he tried to submit that Gupta has been placed under solitary confinement and was not granted any consular access post his indictment.

The bench noted that on September 17, 2023, Gupta has received consular access in the matter and he has also moved the Delhi High Court, where certain orders have been passed.

Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30 On November 29, last year, Gupta was charged by federal prosecutors in the United States in connection with his alleged participation in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun on American soil.