KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
The National Investigation Agency has registered a case against banned Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) radical Jaswinder Singh Multani for his involvement in the December 23 Ludhiana court blast, and others for hatching a conspiracy to target Indian cities, people familiar with the developments said.
Multani, as reported by HT on December 28, was picked up by Federal Police from Erfurt in central Germany after the Narendra Modi-led government requested German authorities to arrest the pro-Khalistan radical who has links to Pakistan, and has been involved in smuggling of arms and ammunition from across the border into Punjab.
According
to the central agency’s first information report (FIR) filed on Thursday, the
45-year-old has been booked under sections related to criminal conspiracy and
waging war against India, among others, of the Unlawful Activities Prevention
Act, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
On December 23, one person was killed and six others were injured after a bomb went off in the district court’s complex in Ludhiana, triggering a high alert in the state. Police said the deceased was the alleged bomber and dismissed head constable Gagandeep Singh.
Preliminary probe revealed that 1.5 kg of explosives were assembled in a plastic container to carry out the blast in the court premises.
Previously a resident of Hoshiarpur in Punjab, Multani is a close associate of SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, and is involved in separatist activities, an official had said earlier.
He recently showed up on security agencies’ radar for arranging and sending weapons consignments comprising explosives, hand grenades and pistols from across the border with the help of Pakistan-based operatives. He was planning to carry out terrorist activities in Punjab by using the smuggled consignments, the official cited above added.
Probe agencies are also analysing the call detail records from Singh’s phones.
Multani is already under investigation for terror-related incidents in Punjab this year. Two cases were registered against him by Punjab Police this year – one in SAS Nagar and the other in Amritsar. One of the cases pertain to an alleged plot to kill Bharatiya Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal and spread unrest.
Likewise, Pannun, US-based leader of SFJ, is also under investigation in connection with multiple cases pertaining to radicalisation of Sikh youth. He has already been declared as an “individual terrorist” under the fourth schedule of UAPA and his properties in Punjab have been attached.
A chargesheet filed by the NIA in December last year against Pannun, UK-based Paramjit Singh Pamma and Canada-based Hardeep Singh Nijjar said the banned SFJ outfit, floated in the garb of ‘Human Rights advocacy group’ with its offices in various foreign countries like the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, is a frontal organisation of Khalistan terrorist outfits operating from foreign soils, including Pakistan.