Gupta pleads not guilty, asks for Hindi-speaking lawyer

Yadav’s name was made public as a co-accused in the alleged “murder-for-hire plot” in the revised charging document that was released a day after an Indian fact-finding team tasked with probing the case. he case traveled to Washington on Wednesday for discussions with US officials.

According to the document, Yadav was deputy commander of the Central Reserve Police Force and worked with RAW as a “senior field officer”.

Gupta’s trial is expected to proceed separately, although Yadav is a co-accused and his absence would not impact the case, according to legal sources interviewed by IANS.

The revised charges and complaint claimed that Yadav ordered Gupta to hire a hitman to kill Pannun.

But the person Gupta approached, believing it to be a criminal element, was a government informant who put him in contact with an undercover federal agent posing as a hit man.

The plot unraveled and Gupta was arrested when he asked the undercover agent to carry out the attack and paid him a $15,000 advance.

Chabrowe forwarded another request from Gupta regarding access to the law library at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a federal prison in Brooklyn.

He said there were frequent lockdowns at the MDC and his client needed access to the library to review the voluminous evidence in the case that the prosecution shared with the defense under U.S. laws.

Alexander Li, the assistant federal prosecutor who led the prosecution team that included two other court lawyers, agreed to ask the MDC to grant him access, and the judge said that if difficulties persisted, Gupta could go to the court.

MDC is a well-known detention center for federal inmates, where two murders occurred in June and July and where inmates complain of poor conditions.

Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, on trial for sex trafficking, and Sam Bankman-Fried, accused of multibillion-dollar crypto fraud, are now celebrity inmates at MDC.

It’s also where Jeffrey Epstein, the Hollywood mogul, was found dead while awaiting trial on sex charges, and his death was ruled a suicide.

The linguistic question came up twice during the procedure.

When the judge asked him if he had read the indictment, he replied, “I don’t speak English fluently” and that he did not have his glasses to read it personally.

At another point, he told the judge: “My English is not good. »

A Hindi-speaking lawyer, if appointed, would come in addition to Chabrowe.

The issue of personal items confiscated from Gupta arose when he asked for his prayer book.

Li said no prayer books were found among personal items that included magazines and a novel, “The Optimist,” as well as various documents.

He said they were handed over to a “privileged team” – a group of lawyers who would ensure that if there were confidential communications with the lawyer, they would be safe from prosecution.