The US Government has asked a federal court in New York to defer the sentencing of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who pleaded guilty to his role in an alleged plot to assassinate US-based Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Pannun, to allow Pannun to participate in the sentencing proceedings.Pannun is a designated terrorist by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and his outfit was a few years back banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.In a filing before US District Judge Victor Marrero, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has requested that Gupta’s September 25 sentencing be adjourned to November 6 or 20.The prosecution said the “intended murder victim” had informed the Government that he wished to participate in the sentencing but would be out of the country on September 25. According to the filing, Pannun would be available to attend on or after October 22.“The Government respectfully requests the Court to grant a brief adjournment to effectuate the victim’s statutory rights to attend and be heard at the sentencing,” prosecutors said in the August 3 filing.The defence has raised no objection to the proposed adjournment and is available on either November 6 or 20, according to the filing.As per media reports, the Court has already granted the request and rescheduled Gupta’s sentencing to November 20.The development comes in a case that has had significant diplomatic ramifications for India-US relations as American prosecutors have alleged that Gupta was part of a conspiracy to arrange Pannun’s killing in New York in 2023.Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023, and subsequently extradited to the US. He later pleaded guilty to his role in the alleged murder-for-hire plot.US prosecutors have alleged that Gupta acted with others in India and elsewhere, including Vikash Yadav, whom the US indictment described as an employee of India’s Cabinet Secretariat. India has not accepted the allegations against its officials.The US case had also referred to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June 2023. According to earlier US court filings, Gupta allegedly told an undercover DEA officer the day after Nijjar’s killing that Nijjar “was also the target” and that there were “so many targets”.The latest court filing does not make any new allegation against Gupta. It is focused solely on the timing of the sentencing and Pannun’s stated wish to participate in the proceedings.