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Chandigarh grenade attack case: NIA conducts searches in Lakhimpur Kheri, other locations to explore BKI links
On December 23 last year, three alleged militants of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) were gunned down in an encounter with UP Police and Punjab Police in UP’s Sikh-dominated Pilibhit district.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out searches in several northern states, including Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, linked with Khalistani militant organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in connection with the Chandigarh grenade attack case, confirmed senior officials. They said incriminating materials, including mobile phones, other digital devices and documents, were seized during the searches.
On December 23 last year, three alleged militants of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF)—Gurwinder Singh (25), Virendra Singh alias Ravi (23) and Jasan Preet Singh alias Pratap Singh (18), all residents of Gurdaspur in Punjab—were gunned down in an encounter with UP Police and Punjab Police in UP’s Sikh-dominated Pilibhit district.
The trio was allegedly involved in the attack on a police outpost in Gurdaspur with explosives on December 18 last year. This was among a series of attacks on police in Chandigarh, Gurdaspur and Amritsar in December last year.
In a press note shared with media, the NIA said comprehensive searches were carried out at various locations linked with the banned terror outfit in the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. The searches were conducted at the premises of suspects linked to US-based terrorist Harpreet Singh aka Happy Passian in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bathinda and Ferozepur districts of Punjab, Lakhimpur Kheri in U.P, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, and Chandigarh.
The NIA’s case registered on the directions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is related to the hurling of a hand grenade at a house Chandigarh on September 9, 2024 by Rohan Masih and Vishal Masih.
The officials said the investigations, so far, had exposed a conspiracy of Pakistan-based Harwinder Singh Sandhu and US-based Harpreet Singh, both terrorists with links to BKI, to attack a retired police officer. The two terrorists had raised a module to carry out the terror attack and provided funds, weapons and other logistical support to the on-ground operatives.
Further investigations in the case are continuing.
