NIA files charge sheet against 7 Khalistani operatives in Amritsar hand grenade seizure case

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 22

The anti-terror probe agency NIA on Monday said it has filed a charge sheet against seven Khalistani operatives under various sections of IPC, Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for their alleged involvement in a case pertaining to recovery of two hand grenades and one Samsung mobile phone from a bag in Amritsar on June 2, 2019.

Officials in the NIA said the charge sheet in a Mohali special court is against Jajbir Singh Samra of Tarn Taran, Varinder Singh Chahal of Amritsar, Kulbir Singh of Nawanshahr, Manjit Kaur of Ludhiana, Taranbir Singh of Amritsar, Kulwinderjit Singh, an operative of Babbar Khalsa International, and Harmeet Singh, a Pakistan-based self-styled chief of Khalistan Liberation Force.

The officials said, the NIA investigation revealed that accused Jajbir Singh Samra and Varinder Singh Chahal were part of a narco-terror module involved in distributing the heroin smuggled from Pakistan in order to channelise the proceeds of drugs to various terrorist entities on the directions of Pakistan based terrorist Harmeet Singh.

They had also picked up grenades and concealed the same at pre-decided location for carrying out terrorist act to further the conspiracy hatched by Harmeet Singh and Kulwinderjit Singh, the officials said.

The NIA in its investigation also found that accused Kulbir Singh, Manjit Kaur and Taranbir Singh had harboured and provided logistics support, including accommodation, business VISA for Kulwinderjit Singh in Cambodia and Malaysia at the time when he had escaped from India, the officials said.

This case was first registered by Punjab Police on June 2, 2019 after seizure of two hand grenades and one Samsung mobile phone from a bag, which was thrown by two unknown motorcycle riders at Harsha Cheena bus stop, Kukkrawala, Amritsar (Rural). Later, the NIA took over the case in July 2020.