New Delhi, Nov. 15 -- Nikhil Gupta, the alleged Indian smuggler accused of plotting the assassination attempt on Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has told a US judge that he plotted the operation alone. In a letter to the US district judge Victor Marrero ahead of his sentencing on November 20, Gupta said he regretted the decision.

"I wish I could turn back time to 2023 and undo my mistakes. Now, when I look back, I don't even recognise the man I had become. In early 2023, even though my life looked just fine from the outside, I was a mess. I was not me," Gupta said in the letter.

Gupta, who was detained in the Czech Republic and later extradited to the US to face trial, said he had contemplated suicide.

"When I fir...