Behind Nikhil Gupta’s guilty plea to multiple offences in the United States (US) lies the story of his numerous failed attempts to secure a competent attorney willing to argue his case. In the relatively short span of eighteen months since his extradition to the country, The Wire has learnt, he changed several attorneys but they all failed to mount what his family would consider an effective defence.The right to representation in a criminal proceeding is a fundamental right guaranteed by the US Constitution.Gupta’s first lawyer was a private attorney, Jeffrey Chabrowe. Subsequent counsels were provided by the government – Michael Rooney and Jennifer Brown, Julian S. Brod, Matthew Laroche and Nola Heller, and David Touger.Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic in June 2023 and extradited to the US a year later. He was charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate American citizen and Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.Soon after the extradition in June 2024, his attorney Jeffrey Chabrowe had said, “This is a complex matter for both our countries. It is extremely important that we refrain from rushing to conclusions so early in the process. Background and details will develop that may cast government allegations into an entirely new light. We will pursue his defence vigorously and ensure he receives full due process, regardless of outside pressures.”Gupta’s legal team was clearly hopeful then. However, sources close to his family say Chabrowe dropped out of the case because of Gupta’s inability to pay the fees.This correspondent reached out to Chabrowe with a detailed questionnaire and will update this story once his response is received.After Chabrowe, Gupta was provided with government attorneys but, says one of the sources, they failed to provide him “proper advice”.On April 11, 2025, a US court heard Gupta’s request to change his legal representation. Subsequently, Michael Patrick Rooney and Jennifer Brown were relieved, and attorney Julian Brod was appointed in their place. Brod withdrew from the case within three days. The court then appointed Matthew Laroche and Nola Heller to represent Gupta.The court-appointed attorneys, the sources claimed, seemed inclined towards encouraging him to plead guilty rather than to prepare a strong defence.Since the case involved a foreign national allegedly attempting an extrajudicial killing in the US, Gupta faced an uphill legal challenge. At the same time, the private lawyers Gupta’s family spoke with during his incarceration advised them to “fight the case because the prosecution case was weak”.“Since the counsel provided by the US government had not been arguing the case properly, he was advised to hire a private lawyer. But the US lawyers charge high fees which the family couldn’t defend,” said the source, who is privy to the developments and the views in the family.This person points to a crucial discrepancy in the US indictment, which describes Gupta as an international narcotics and weapons trafficker: “Is there even a single record available of his involvement in such activities? He was never given a real opportunity to contest his case.”In May 2025, Gupta filed an emergency motion demanding dismissal of the charges against him and his immediate release from custody, arguing that the indictment is “legally defective”.However, Gupta’s options narrowed as the trial date approached. Under US law, pleading guilty invites a comparatively lesser sentence than being convicted in a trial. One of the sources said he ultimately pleaded guilty to avoid facing trial.The question remains why he was eager to avoid trial if he believed he was innocent.According to reports, the Indian government also did not provide him legal assistance in the US. He was granted consular access during his detention in the Czech Republic, but nothing is known about consular visits or government assistance following his extradition to the US. His family says the government did not provide him any legal help in the US.The sudden silence of Hindutva warriorsAccording to Gupta’s indictment, the attempted murder case against him is closely linked with the killing of Canadian Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 – less than a fortnight before Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic. The murder conspiracy, as per the indictment, also involves another Indian citizen, Vikash Yadav, a former Indian government employee. Yadav was, according to the indictment, working with the Cabinet Secretariat at the time he allegedly conspired with Gupta for Pannun’s murder.In a January 2025 media interview, Gupta had denied any links with Yadav, his alleged co-conspirator accused of orchestrating the murder plot, and called the evidence presented by the US investigation agencies as “fabricated”. He said in the interview, “Since I have been extradited to the US from Prague, I haven’t received any consular access. Nobody has visited me from the Indian embassy. My family raised several requests for the same, however, nobody has visited me till date…”By then, the Indian government was distancing itself from Gupta, Yadav and the allegations in the US indictment. Not just this, the episode is also marked by the opportunistic silence of Hindutva warriors, who earlier endlessly talked up the alleged assassination attempt. They had been muscle flexing, asserting that the bid on Pannun’s life was a sign that ‘New India’ had arrived on the world stage.Earlier, the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was celebrated by Hindutva followers on social media. Weeks after that murder, on July 9, 2023, a prominent Hindutva supporter had boasted about the murder on social media: “Already 3 have been served what they deserved. These people should worry that their handlers are starting to eliminate them.”At least three Khalistani separatists had died in the 45 days preceding this post. Nijjar was killed in Canada in June that year, Paramjit Singh Panjwar was killed in Lahore in May and Avtar Singh died in a hospital in England in June.Earlier that year, in January, another Khalistani activist Harmit Singh was killed in Lahore.But the bravado in the Hindutva camp dampened soon after Canadian and US agencies began investigating the role of Indian agencies and Indian nationals in the Pannun episode. The so-called warriors slipped into absolute silence after Yadav and Gupta made it to the headlines. And with Gupta’s guilty plea, the lobby that publicly chest-thumped India’s “covert” operations appeared to slide into a black hole.Amid speculation about Yadav’s legal status, The Wire earlier reported that residents of his village in Haryana were furious with the government’s indifference towards him. They warned of launching a major agitation if Yadav was arrested. He now faces multiple cases in India.As the Hindutva establishment celebrates a movie about the exploits of a fictional Indian spy in Pakistan, the reality has arrived in a different form – the Indian government leaving its citizens to fight their own battles.The writer is an independent journalist and author.