India was granted consular access to Nikhil Gupta on at least three occasions, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Gupta is jailed in a Czech prison post US indictment accusing him of involvement in a foiled murder plot to kill Khalistani Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, during a weekly media briefing also said that India was extending necessary consular assistance to Gupta.
“An Indian national is currently in the custody of the Czech authorities pending a request for extradition to the US. We have received consular access at least on three occasions,” Bagchi said at his weekly media briefing in response to a question on the case involving Gupta.
“We are extending necessary consular assistance as per requirement,” he said.
Last week, Gupta’s family approached the Supreme Court and pleaded to issue a direction to the central government to intervene in the extradition proceedings and ensure a fair trial in the case.
“The family of this person has gone to our Supreme Court and this is a process that is going on in the Supreme Court. I do not think it will be appropriate for us to comment on issues like jurisdiction. We will wait for what the Supreme Court has to say,” Bagchi said.
He said that New Delhi was very seriously looking into the allegations and that some inputs have also been shared by the United States on the matter. The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said that India has set up a high-level panel to probe the accusations.
“As we have shared earlier, we take it seriously. The inputs have been provided by the US side and a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted to look into all relevant aspects of the matter,” Mr Bagchi said. “This fact has also been noted by these members of the Congress. I do not have any further update to it,” he added.
FBI director meets CBI chief
Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray met CBI Director Praveen Sood in India’s capital New Delhi against the backdrop of the charges by the US in the case.
During the meeting, both agencies recognised the challenges posed by organised crime networks, cyber-enabled financial crimes, ransomware threats, economic crimes and transnational crimes.
US Principal Deputy NSA Jonathan Finer also visited India earlier this month during which he held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Deputy NSA Vikran Misri.
(With inputs from agencies)
