New Delhi: With Canada putting pressure on India over the murder investigation of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and diplomatic relations between the two nations hitting rock bottom, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made a significant claim.
India’s counter-terrorism law enforcement agency has submitted to the Supreme Court that operatives from banned terror outfit Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) – based in Canada and the US – plotted the murder of a Shaurya Chakra-awardee teacher in Punjab four years ago.
Balwinder Singh Sandhu, shot dead outside his house in Tarn Taran district in October 2020, was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for fighting against militancy in Punjab in the 1990s.
NIA has filed an affidavit before the court, opposing bail petitions of two co-accused – Navpreet Singh aka Nav and Harbinder Singh aka Pinder aka Dhillon – in the murder of Sandhu.
According the 111-page affidavit accessed by India Today, NIA has stated the accused in the case revealed they were entrusted with the task of committing the crime by Sukhmeet Pal Singh alias Sunny Toronto, a Khalistan Liberation Force operative based in Canada, and Lakhveer Singh alias Rode, nephew of deceased Khalistani separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
NIA’s chargesheet has named both Sunny and Lakhveer Singh are named as accused in the NIA chargesheet and are absconding.
NIA said Sunny and Lakhveer were contacted to kill Sandhu to revive terrorism in India, especially in Punjab. Sunny also got in touch with radicalised youths like Inderjit Singh to eliminate Sandhu.
“The main objective of the Khalistan Liberation Force is to create Khalistan by means of an armed struggle,” NIA said in its affidavit.
“Organisations and persons who oppose the ideology of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale are the prime targets of the group,” NIA said, adding that Sandhu was one of the targets of this conspiracy.