Separately, he has challenged other core criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering.
New Delhi: In a strategic shift ahead of his trial, New Delhi resident Nikhil Gupta—accused by U.S. prosecutors of conspiring to assassinate U.S.-based separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun—has withdrawn a self-filed motion to dismiss the indictment against him.
Separately, he has challenged other core criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Court records from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York show that Gupta submitted a pro se motion on May 22, 2025, seeking dismissal of the indictment and immediate release on bail. In a seven-page letter addressed to Judge Victor Marrero—and marked to the U.S. Attorney’s Office (SDNY) and court-appointed attorney Matthew Joseph Laroche—Gupta declared that he was “hereby invoking his right to self-representation. ”In the motion, Gupta argued that the indictment was fatally flawed because it failed to specify which state or federal statute would have been violated had the alleged murder-for-hire plot succeeded—an omission he claimed invalidated both the charges and his extradition from the Czech Republic.
“Such is an essential component of the mens rea (intent) element, and the indictment here fails to do so,” Gupta wrote, adding that the absence of this detail deprived both the court and the grand jury of the ability to determine whether a chargeable crime existed under relevant U.S. laws. Gupta further contended that, because the defect predated his extradition, the legal basis for his transfer to the United States was compromised, violating his due process rights. He urged the court not only to dismiss the indictment but also to “order this Defendant’s immediate release from custody.” He also sought bail on the grounds that he had been held for over 90 days without trial, arguing that the delay stemmed from the government’s lack of diligence.
However, because Gupta was already represented by appointed counsel—Laroche and Nola Heller—his independent filing prompted a procedural response from Judge Marrero. On June 4, the court granted a request from his defence team to withdraw the motion and instructed the Clerk of Court to strike it from the docket.
Following this, on June 23, Gupta’s attorneys filed a redacted memorandum in support of a dual motion: to suppress certain statements and evidence, and to dismiss Count Three of the Second Superseding Indictment—a charge that accuses Gupta of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The count alleges that Gupta coordinated a $15,000 payment as part of the logistics for the alleged assassination plot.
As The Sunday Guardian previously reported, U.S. prosecutors have accused Gupta of wiring the funds through intermediaries, and the charge has become a central element of the government’s financial conspiracy case. Gupta, in turn, is expected to argue that the funds were not transferred with the requisite criminal intent needed to sustain a money laundering conviction under U.S. law.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to his attorney Nola Heller for comment on the recent filings and the expected trial timeline. No response was received by the time of publication. Heller, who previously served for 11 years as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, is now a partner at Milbank LLP. Her estimated billing rate is around $1,800 per hour—typical for elite New York litigators. However, court records indicate that she has been representing Gupta since April 15, 2025 as a CJA-appointed attorney—meaning she is being compensated through public funds, not retained privately. As part of the ongoing proceedings, Gupta’s defence team has submitted more than 30 exhibits to the court, including arrest photographs from the Prague airport, diplomatic exchanges between the U.S. and Czech authorities, DEA memos, and foreign court documents tied to Gupta’s extradition. Several of these materials remain under seal.
Gupta was arrested in Prague on June 30, 2023, and extradited to the US on June 14, 2024. He has been held in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn since his arrival.
The trial—initially expected in mid-2025—is now projected for November 2025, following a joint filing from both parties. The request cited pending suppression motions, the presence of classified materials governed by the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), and other logistical demands as reasons for the proposed delay.
