LUCKNOW
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday raided three places in Uttar Pradesh, including a residential apartment at Gomti Nagar Extension in Lucknow during nationwide searches carried out by the central agency at over 150 locations in six states in connection with cases related to narco-terror-gangster nexus, said officials.
In Lucknow, the NIA raided the Gomti Nagar Extension flat of an Ayodhya resident around 5am, and the team stayed there for over five hours. “The man was not found in his Lucknow flat. He allegedly provided shelter to Khalistan supporter Deepak Ranga, who is key accused in the blast that took place at the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali on May 9, 2022,” an official said.
Ranga was arrested by the NIA from Gorakhpur on January 25 earlier this year. He is a close associate of Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu, alias Landa, and Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu, alias Rinda, said the official.
Ranga was provided shelter allegedly by the Ayodhya resident during his stay in UP before being arrested from Gorakhpur. The NIA later found this man at his hideout in Ayodhya and questioned him for over two hours but did not arrest him as he was performing the last rites of his mother, who passed away on Tuesday night, he added.
The NIA’s raids were underway in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The central agency had registered three cases last year following information suggesting that terrorist outfits and their sympathisers abroad were operating as members of organized criminal gangs active in the northern states of India for targeted killings and violent criminal acts.
{{/usCountry}}The NIA’s raids were underway in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The central agency had registered three cases last year following information suggesting that terrorist outfits and their sympathisers abroad were operating as members of organized criminal gangs active in the northern states of India for targeted killings and violent criminal acts.
{{/usCountry}}He said central agencies and state police forces had been cracking down on organised criminals and terrorists operating from different parts of the country and countries like Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Australia, and the US. These coordinated raids were carried out to dismantle the gangsters’ network.