ISI haunts again: Clear connection with Canada gang in Punjab murders, terror

It is a vicious circle that is operating from across the border and from foreign countries to wreck havoc in Punjab. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that if you see the investigations of the recent strikes, there are always two links that crop up: ISI and Canada.

New Delhi, July 27: The Intelligence Bureau has been warning for long that pro-Khalistan elements have been gradually coming back with the help of Pakistan's ISI and will eventually wreck havoc in Punjab.

Two back-to-back incidents that have rocked Punjab have a clear ISI link to it. In May following the RPG attack on the Intelligence wing headquarters, Punjab DGP, Viresh Kumar Bhawra said that it was carried out by the Babbar Khalsa in association with some gangsters, all of whom had the backing of the ISI.

The key conspirator in this attack was identified as Lakhbir Singh Landa who has been in Canada since 2017. Landa is a close associate of Wadhwa Singh and the ISI.

Now the ISI connect has emerged in the murder probe of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and the probe has learnt that it was carried out by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. An Indian Express report said that absconding terrorist Harvinder Rinda who is based in Pakistan had played a part in the attack. Rinda and Bishnoi had met with them when they were in a Punjab jail, the report said.

It is a vicious circle that is operating from across the border and from foreign countries to wreck havoc in Punjab. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that if you see the investigations of the recent strikes, there are always two links that crop up: ISI and Canada.

In a chargesheet that was filed by the National Investigation Agency, it spoke about four operatives of the Khalistan Tiger Force who were behind the targeted killings in Punjab.

The probe revealed that accused Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force, a designated terrorist had along with Arshdeep Singh, formed a gang and recruited the other accused.

The other concern is the use of gangsters in recent attacks. It is a nexus between the ISI, gangsters, terrorists and the masterminds abroad. Even if one were to take the case of the Ludhiana Court blast, it was found that it was the handiwork of gangsters involved in smuggling. They would smuggle drugs and IEDs at the behest of the ISI and then strike in Punjab, the probe also learnt.