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Attack on Indian mission in UK: NIA raids multiple locations in 14 Punjab districts
In a crackdown against those involved in the attack on the Indian high commission in London, the NIA on Tuesday raided 31 locations in Punjab and Haryana.
In a crackdown against those involved in the attack on the Indian high commission in London, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday raided 31 locations in Punjab and Haryana to unravel the full contours of the conspiracy and bring to book the culprits, an official said.
Simultaneous raids were conducted in the morning at Moga, Barnala, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, SBS Nagar, Amritsar, Muktsar, Sangrur, Patiala and Mohali districts in Punjab and Sirsa in Haryana, a spokesperson of the NIA said.
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The high commission of India in London was attacked on March 19 by pro-Khalistan activists. They committed criminal trespass, injured officials, disrespected the Indian flag and damaged public property.
The attack was allegedly organised by UK-based Gurcharan Singh of the Dal Khalsa, Avtar Singh Khanda of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and Jasvir Singh, and many of their associates. They were identified during investigation, the spokesperson said. In May, a team of the NIA visited the UK to probe the case. Subsequently, crowdsourcing of information was carried out to identify UK-based entities and individuals involved in the incident, the spokesperson added.
The raids led to the seizure of digital data containing information related to those involved in the attack on the high commission and other incriminating documents, the spokesperson said.
The agency conducted searches at the residence of a widow, Soni Kaur, at Dhurkot Ransih village in Nihal Singh Wala sub-division of Moga district, as according to the NIA, her son and daughter had allegedly participated in protest outside the Indian high commission in London.
Kaur’s both children moved to the UK last year and her husband Jaswinder Singh died a few years ago.
During searches, the NIA team recovered 37 live cartridges from the house. Kaur, however, said her husband had a licenced gun which they sold after his death. But they were not able to sell the cartridges, she said.
The NIA has given a notice to Kaur to appear at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi on August 10 for questioning. NIA officials also took away the mobile phone of Soni.
Kaur’s father-in-law Jagtar Singh was the driver of slain militant preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Kaur’s family belongs to Moga’s Rode village, which is the native village of Bhindranwale but her family had moved to Dhurkot Ransih a few years ago.
The team also searched a house at Muktsar’s Sarawan Bodla village. Officials of the raiding party directed the house owner, Satnam Singh, a farmer, to appear at the NIA headquarters in New Delhi on August 7.
Satnam’s brother Arvind Singh is based in the UK for over a decade, and had returned on Monday, said people familiar with the development. Arvind, who allegedly participated in the pro-Khalistan protest at the Indian mission in the UK, was not in the house when the raid was conducted.
Raids were also conducted at houses of UK residents Luvshinder Singh and Balwinder Singh, at Dalewal village of Jalandhar district in the wee hours. Both are settled abroad for the last 35 years.
Accompanied by the local police, the NIA officials questioned Balwinder’s nephew for six hours and also confiscated his mobile phone. Meanwhile, Luvshinder’s sister-in-law and her son were also questioned for three hours and were summoned to appear at NIA headquarters on August 7.
The agency conducted a raid at the house of Paramjit Singh Pamma of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) in Phase 3B2, Mohali. The NIA team reached Pamma’s residence around 6.30am and conducted searches till 10.30am.
Also read: NIA conducts raids at 2 houses in Jalandhar’s Dalewal village
The team questioned Pamma’s mother and father, both in their eighties.
Pamma is on the list of one of the most-wanted persons by the NIA and was accused of various terror-related activities in Punjab. He was also the mastermind of the 2009 killing of Rulda Singh, head of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, a wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to Punjab Police.
The agency grilled Harbans Singh Dhillon of Salemgarh village in Sangrur in connection with Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief and pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh. He was questioned about Amritpal for over six hours. The agency summoned him at the NIA office in Delhi on August 4.
The agency raided two locations in Hoshiarpur district and questioned three persons for their alleged involvement in terror-related activities. An NIA team landed at the residence of retired teacher Narinder Singh in Hariana town early in the morning. They wanted to question his son Sarabjtt Singh also but when told that the latter had gone to a nearby village, NIA sleuths went to the given place and brought him to his house where the father-son duo was questioned about their recent visit to Pakistan.
Narinder Singh revealed that they had been asked to reach NIA headquarters in Delhi on August 3 for further investigation. He said he and his son had gone to Pakistan on Baisakhi as part of the Sikh jatha.
The NIA also raided the house of one Jaswant Singh in Dhamai village. Jaswant Singh runs a shop of insecticides.
(Inputs from HTC Faridkot, Bathinda, Mohali, Jalandhar, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur)