Incidents and Statements involving Babbar Khalsa International: 2017

Date

Nature of incident

August 16-17

Uttar Pradesh

The STF arrested three members of the BKI group along with 2.5 kilograms of Heroin from Ludhiana city in Ludhiana District of Punjab. The STF arrested Gurlal, who, along with two other men, was going to Firozepur to supply the Heroin, sources said.

In joint operations that last all of last week, Punjab Police and UP ATS have arrested six suspects who had non-bailable warrants issued against them for their role in high-security Nabha jailbreak in Patiala (Punjab) in November 2016. Police said those arrested also have links with outlawed group BKI.

One BKI suspect, identified as Harpreet Singh alias Jitendra Singh Tony was arrested from Mailani area in Lakhimpur Kheri District. Another BKI suspect, Satnam Singh was arrested by the joint team of the ATS, Punjab and local Police from Sikanderpur area of the Lakhimpur Kheri District. Sources said Police are close to busting a network of Sikh militants in the region, including from Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri. UP ATS IG Asim Arun said, "One of the terror suspects, Balwant Singh, who was arrested in Lucknow led us to Jitendra Singh Toni who is wanted for supplying arms during the armed jailbreak in November last year."

According to Police officers involved in the investigations, Baba Babwant Singh, a resident of Naushehra Pannuan in Punjab's Tarn Taran District, was held on September 16 from Lucknow, while Jaswant Singh alias Kala, a resident of Sonewala village in Punjab's Muktsar Sahib district and a close aide of former BKI chief Jagtar Singh Hawara, was arrested from Unnao District the same day. Both were also wanted in several cases of targeted killings. Their interrogation led to more arrests from the region.

Sources added that Harjinder Singh Khalon, a Sikh leader from Pilibhit, and his aide Amandeep, who is from Udham Singh Nagar, were arrested from Lucknow based on inputs provided by Baba Balwant Singh. Punjab ATS IG Vijay Pratap Singh confirmed the involvement of Harjinder Singh, Amandeep and one Sandeep Tiwari, who was arrested from Sultanpur, in the armed attack on Nabha jail on November 27, 2016. "The arrested accuseds were involved in the armed offensive during the Nabha jailbreak. We are also trying to trace one of the key conspirators of the jailbreak, Gopi, who was last seen on September 10 in Shahjahanpur but managed to flee," Singh said. Soon after the jailbreak last year, west UP had come under the radar of Punjab Police and was dubbed as a safe haven for suspects linked to the banned outfit. Hours after the jailbreak, main conspirator Parvinder Singh was arrested from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh. At least 10 armed men had broken into the premises of the high-security Nabha jail and freed six men, including Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorist Harminder Mintoo, on November 27.

The counter intelligence wing of Punjab Police arrested seven militants of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) from Moga District. Sources said four of the accused are aged between 18 and 23 years. One is a minor. Commissioner of Police R N Dhoke said, "BKI was planning to carry out subversive activities in Punjab, especially against anti-Khalistan and anti-Sikh groups. These seven were handpicked by England-based Surinder Singh Babbar, who approached them through social networking sites. The arrested have no criminal background. They joined BKI a few months ago and were preparing for a big strike in Punjab." Police have also recovered one .32 bore pistol with 20 cartridges and two .315 bore country-made pistols with 13 cartridges from their possession.

Punjab

Punjab Police are investigating the role of BKI member Gursharan Bir Singh in the series of targeted killings of religious leaders in the state over the past two years. Gursharan is also wanted in the murder of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat head Rulda Singh in Patiala on July 28, 2009. Punjab DGP Suresh Arora said that the State Police has got some leads about Gursharan's involvement while interrogating the men arrested for their alleged role in the killing of at least eight people, including former Punjab RSS vice-president Brig Jagdish Gagneja (retd) in Jalandhar. The State Police had recently arrested UK resident Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi in the targeted killings case. He was arrested from Jalandhar.

DGP Suresh Arora said the Police are investigating the alleged links between Pakistan-based Harmeet Singh who is believed to be running ISI-back ISYF and another fugitive Rampreet Singh alias Romy who is in Hong Kong. Romy is believed to have links with gangsters in Punjab and has been named as an accused in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak case as well. Police believe Harmeet trained the men involved in the targeted killings.