 "Amid Trudeau row, NIA tells SC Canada & US-based terrorists ordered teacher’s murder in Punjab")
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has informed the Supreme Court of India that operatives from banned terror outfit Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), based in the United States and Canada, masterminded the murder of Balwinder Singh Sandhu, a Shurya Chakra awardee teacher, in Punjab’s Tarn Taran in 2020.
The details have emerged at a time when Justin Trudeau-led government in Canada and the US have been accusing India of the 2023 killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the murder attempt of another Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
NIA opposes bail plea of Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s murder accused
The NIA has filed an affidavit before the court, opposing the bail pleas of two co-accused – Navpreet Singh aka Nav and Harbinder Singh aka Pinder aka Dhillon – in the 2020 murder of Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
The investigation was handed over to NIA in 2021 and as per a report by Times of India, the masterminds behind Sandhu’s killing were Canada-based KLF operative Sunny Toronto and Pakistan-sheltered terrorist Lakhbir Singh alias Rode, nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
The duo were named as accused in the NIA chargesheet and were shown as absconders.
The NIA said that Sunny and Rode, the self-styled chief of KLF, planned to kill anti-Khalistan entities in India in anticipation that they could revive the movement targetting those opposed to Khalistan.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Khalistan Liberation Force leadership believes they can revive the separatist movement by targeting members of specific communities to polarise society in Punjab on communal lines. Organisations and persons, who according to the KLF leadership are opposed to the ideology of Bhindranwale, are their prime targets for elimination,” the ToI report quoted NIA as saying.
Why did they kill Balwinder Singh Sandhu?
As per the NIA, Sandhu became one of the targets of the conspiracy as he was awarded Shaurya Chakra in April 1993 for his brave struggle against terrorist elements during the peak of terrorism in Punjab.
The investigating agency also said that other absconding accused in the Sandhu murder case include Gurjot Kaur, a US-based operative of KLF, and Gaganpreet Singh Kaila aka Gagan, a KLF member settled in Surrey, British Columbia.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the bail pleas of the co-accused in Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s murder case.
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