Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, suspected by the United States of conspiring to assassinate a Sikh separatist in New York, has not sought consular help, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.

Gupta was extradited from the Czech Republic to the United States on June 14. The Czech authorities had arrested Gupta on June 30 at the request of the United States when he travelled from India to Prague.

“We have so far not received any request for consular access from Mr Gupta, but his family has got in touch with us and we are in touch with the family members and we are looking at the matter as to what can be done on their request,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a media briefing.

The American authorities have accused Gupta of conspiring with an unidentified Indian government official to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

On November 29, the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, announced that it had filed “murder-for-hire charges” against Gupta in connection with his alleged participation in a thwarted plot to assassinate Pannun. Gupta paid $100,000 in cash to a hitman to assassinate Pannun, the US prosecutors alleged. The hitman turned out to be an undercover United States federal agent.

On Monday, Gupta pleaded not guilty at a Manhattan Federal Court in New York.

US Attorney-General Merrick Garland said on Monday that Gupta’s extradition makes it clear that the American Justice Department “will not tolerate attempts to silence or harm American citizens”.

“This murder-for-hire plot – allegedly orchestrated by an Indian government employee to kill a US citizen in New York City – was a brazen attempt to silence a political activist for exercising a quintessential American right: his freedom of speech,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.

She added that the prosecutors will continue to work “relentlessly to identify, disrupt and hold accountable those who seek to harm American citizens here or abroad”.