RAS question
Nikhil Gupta, who pleaded guilty in a US court in February 2026, was charged in connection with a plot to assassinate which individual?
Correct answer: (A) Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Nikhil Gupta was charged in connection with a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City.
Explanation
Nikhil Gupta’s February 2026 guilty plea concerned a 2023 transnational assassination plot whose intended target was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City. The AP News report on the plea says Gupta admitted sending $15,000 to a supposed hitman as part of the conspiracy. That detail matters because it links the charge not to a general political controversy but to a specific operational step in the alleged plot. Gupta faces a prison term in the 20-24 year range. Therefore, among the four names given, Pannun is the only individual directly identified as the intended victim in the charged assassination conspiracy.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Jagmeet Singh is not identified as the intended target of Gupta’s assassination plot.
- (C) Hardeep Singh Nijjar is mentioned in connection with a June 2023 killing in Canada, but the charged plot discussed here was to kill Pannun.
- (D) Paramjit Singh Pamma does not appear in AP News account as the person Gupta was charged with plotting to assassinate.
Concept
This tests current-affairs linkage under Indian Constitution and Governance, especially how transnational security cases enter exam questions through courts, rights, separatism and India’s external relations. RAS often asks such items because a single legal development connects governance, internal security and international diplomacy.