Nikhil Gupta, the Indian citizen suspected by the United States of conspiring to assassinate a Khalistani separatist in New York, has told The Indian Express that no Indian government official has contacted him since he was extradited to the US from the Czech Republic.

“Since I have been extradited to the US from Prague, I haven’t received any consular access,” Gupta told the newspaper. “Nobody has visited me from the Indian embassy. My family raised several requests for the same; however, nobody has visited me to date.”

Gupta, 53, was extradited to the US on June 14. The Czech authorities had arrested him on June 30, 2023, at the request of the United States when he travelled from India to the Czech capital Prague.

Gupta said that his family had sent emails to officials at the Ministry of External Affairs but had not been able to meet anyone, the newspaper reported.

The ministry has not commented on Gupta’s statements so far.

He is held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. The comments by Gupta were in response to questions by The Indian Express. His replies were shared through an intermediary who has been in regular contact with him, the newspaper said.

The United States Department of Justice has accused Gupta of conspiring with an Indian government official, unidentified at the time, to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

In November 2023, 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 an allegedly 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.

The plot was part of a larger conspiracy to kill one person in California and at least three in Canada, the US justice department alleged.

In October, the US charged Vikash Yadav, a former officer of India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing, with murder-for-hire and money laundering in connection with the matter.

Gupta denied having links to Yadav and told The Indian Express that the evidence presented by the US was “fabricated”.

In June, Gupta pleaded not guilty at a Manhattan Federal Court in New York. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs had said at the time that Gupta had not sought consular help.

In December 2023, the External Affairs Ministry said that India had received consular access to Gupta on three occasions. Gupta was in Prague at the time.

New Delhi has denied involvement in the alleged plot to assassinate Khalistani separatists. However, it has constituted a high-level committee to examine the inputs provided by the United States.