The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that operatives of Canada-based terrorist organization Khalistan Liberation Force had conspired to murder Shaurya Chakra awardee teacher Balwinder Singh Sandhu in Tarn Taran, Punjab in 2020.
The NIA revelations come at a time when relations between the two countries are at an all-time low after Ottawa alleged Indian government links to the killing of Canadian citizen and Khalistani movement leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 outside a gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Have reached the lowest level. However, India has denied the allegations and accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “playing vote bank politics”.
The NIA has filed an affidavit before the top court opposing the bail plea of two co-accused – Navpreet Singh alias Nav and Harbinder Singh alias Pinder alias Dhillon – in the 2020 Balwinder Singh Sandhu murder case. .
It is important to note that Sandhu was shot dead outside his house in Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district in October 2020. He was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for fighting against terrorism in the state in the 1990s.
The investigation was handed over to the NIA in 2021 and according to a Times of India report, the masterminds behind Sandhu’s murder were Canada-based KLF operative Sunny Toronto and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s nephew, Pakistan-sheltered terrorist Lakhbir Singh alias Rode. Were.
Both were named as accused in the NIA chargesheet and shown as absconders. The counter-terrorism agency said the two conspired to dismantle “anti-Khalistan entities in India” as they believed they could revive the Khalistani movement by targeting them.
India Today in its report quoted the NIA affidavit as saying, “The main objective of the Khalistan Liberation Force is to create Khalistan through armed struggle.”
“The Khalistan Liberation Force leadership believes that they can revive the separatist movement in Punjab by targeting members of specific communities to polarize the society on communal lines. Organizations and individuals, who according to the KLF leadership oppose Bhindranwale’s ideology, are their prime targets for elimination,” the TOI report quoted the NIA as saying.
