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Pak-based Khalistan terrorist behind Ludhiana court blast: NIA
The NIA filed a charge sheet before a Mohali court on Saturday, naming Gagandeep Singh, Surmukh Singh alias Sammu, Dilbagh Singh alias Baggo, Rajanpreet Singh and a Pakistani national Zulfikar alias Pahalwan, who it said were part of the conspiracy
New Delhi: Lakhbir Singh Rode, nephew of deceased militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and head of banned Khalistani outfit International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), had planned the December 2021 Ludhiana court complex blast, in which suspected bomber Gagandeep Singh was killed and six people injured, the National Investigation Agency said on Sunday.
Rode had conspired to carry out bomb blasts in various places in Punjab and used Pakistan-based smugglers to execute his plans, the anti-terror agency said.
Bhindranwale, leader of Damdami Taksal, was killed by the Indian army in June 1984 during Operation Blue Star.
The NIA filed a charge sheet before a Mohali court on Saturday, naming Gagandeep Singh, Surmukh Singh alias Sammu, Dilbagh Singh alias Baggo, Rajanpreet Singh and a Pakistani national Zulfikar alias Pahalwan, who it said were part of the conspiracy. The federal agency has already filed a charge sheet against Rode in March 2022.
“During investigations, it has been revealed that Lakhbir Singh Rode, Pakistan based ISYF terrorist handler, had planned to execute IED blasts at various locations in Punjab. In order to execute his plans, he, in association with Pakistan based smugglers, recruited India based operatives to smuggle IEDs and to carry out blasts to cause maximum casualties and to strike terror among the general public,” the NIA said in a statement on Sunday.
As part of the conspiracy “to carry out IED blasts in Punjab, Rode, with the help of Zulfikar, a Pakistan based cross-border arms, explosives and narcotics smuggler, Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia, Surmukh Singh, Dilbagh Singh and Rajanpreet Singh, formed a terror gang to carry out blasts and smuggle weapons into India,” it said.
Harpreet Singh was deported to India from Kuala Lumpur last month and has been taken into custody by the NIA.
“Rode used the smuggling channels of Pakistan based smuggler Zulfikar and his associates Surmukh Singh and Harpreet Singh to deliver the IED to Gagandeep Singh, who planted it in Ludhiana court complex and lost his life in the process,” the NIA said.
Rode, according to a counterterrorism official who declined to be named, operates from Lahore in close association with the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani spy agency. He has already been put in the most wanted list by the NIA and a reward of ₹5 lakh has been declared on him.
Rode has been regularly sending consignments of small and large firearms, heroin and explosives packed in lunch boxes from across the border to Punjab to carry out blasts and target political leaders, the agency said. He was also involved in September 15 bomb explosion in Jalalabad town of Punjab’s Fazilka district, in which terrorist Binder Singh was killed.
