India, June 21 -- Founded in 1866, Milbank is one of New York's historic 'white-shoe' law firms. It is leading Nikhil Gupta's defence.

The legal team defending Nikhil Gupta in the high-profile Gurpatwant Singh Pannun murder-for-hire is now dominated by lawyers from Milbank LLP, one of the most prominent Wall Street law firms and a firm with extensive involvement in major India-related corporate, infrastructure and financing transactions.

Court records in the Southern District of New York show that Gupta is currently represented by five lawyers. Four of them are from Milbank LLP: Elyse Hain, Isabel Christophorou Pitaro, Nola Breglio Heller and Peter Farag. The fifth is veteran New York criminal defence lawyer David Touger of Peluso & Tou...