BKI member supplying arms to the terror group held in Mumbai

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made a breakthrough in the Punjab terror conspiracy case with the arrest of Jatinder Singh aka Jyoti in Mumbai on Monday. Singh is an alleged member of banned terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)

MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made a breakthrough in the Punjab terror conspiracy case with the arrest of Jatinder Singh aka Jyoti in Mumbai on Monday. Singh is an alleged member of banned terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and a key member of a Khalistani terrorist group led by Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and gangster Bachitar Singh alias Pavitar Batala.

NIA officials investigating a case. Photo for representation only. (ANI)

Singh had been sourcing weapons in Madhya Pradesh and supplying them to operatives of Landa and Batala in Punjab for several years. Once he realised the NIA was on his trail, he fled from his hideout in Madhya Pradesh and sought cover in Mumbai for five months.

The NIA arrested Singh on a tip off that he was in Trombay, an eastern suburb of Mumbai, where he was working as a JCB crane operator. According to an NIA official, Singh, who originally hails from Gurdaspur district in Punjab, was absconding since the arrest of Madhya Pradesh-based weapons supplier Baljit Singh alias Rana Bhai in July 2024. He was apprehended after an extensive technical and on-ground effort, NIA officials said.

Singh was earlier living in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh. Here too, his cover was his job as a JCB crane operator, while he procured weapons from Baljit Singh, who has recently been charge sheeted in one such case.

NIA official said Singh had brought ten pistols from MP and delivered them to operatives of Landa and Batala in Punjab. He had planned to smuggle more weapons into Punjab but his plan was scuttled after the NIA launched a search operation several months ago.

Singh’s arrest is a major development in the effort to dismantle the terror-gangster nexus by thwarting the smuggling of arms, ammunition, explosives etc and the raising of funds for terrorist acts on Indian soil, according to the NIA.