Trans-national conspiracy by Khalistan forces: NIA charges 8

New Delhi, Feb 25: The National Investigation Agency has filed a chargesheet against 8 persons in connection with an attempted murder of a Shiv Sena leader.

It may be recalled that an assassination bid was made on Amit Arora on February 3 2016 at Ludhiana, Punjab. During the probe it was found that the assassination bid was part of a trans-national conspiracy hatched by the Khalistan Liberation Force.

Eight incidents of Targeted Killings/ Attempted Killings were executed as part of this plan between January, 2016 and October, 2017 in Punjab. All the persons targeted belonged to certain specific communities and organisations. The objective of the conspiracy was to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state.

It was found that the conspiracy had its foot-prints in several countries including, Pakistan, UK, Australia, France, Italy and the UAE. As part of the conspiracy, substantial amounts of funds were supplied through Italy, Australia and the UK to the perpetrators of the Killings/ Attempted Killings, viz. Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh. These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings and other logistics.

The conspiracy included recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy, Dubai and UAE. Accused Hardeep Singh is the permanent resident of Italy while accused Ramandeep Singh belongs to Ludhiana. Both these persons were trained by one Gursharanbir Singh, a UK national. Another UK national, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been arrested in the case was involved in the funding of the conspiracy. Day to day co-ordination of the conspiracy was done by Pakistan based Harmeet Singh @ PhD. The charge-sheet is based on the evidence collected from Oral, documentary, material and electronic sources. Besides, further evidence is being collected from several other countries.