The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has informed the Supreme Court that the banned terror outfit Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) was involved in the murder of a teacher, a Shaurya Chakra awardee, in Punjab in 2020.
Canada-based operatives of the KLF masterminded the killing, the NIA asserted.
Interestingly, the development has come when relations between India and Canada have hit rock bottom over the murder probe of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for fighting against militancy in the state in the 1990s, was shot dead outside his house in Tarn Taran district of Punjab in October 2020.
The investigative agency told the apex court the accused arrested in the case revealed that they were tasked to commit the crime by Sukhmeet Pal Singh, alias Sunny Toronto, a Khalistan Liberation Force operative based in Canada, and Lakhveer Singh, alias Rode, the nephew of deceased Khalistani separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
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Both Sunny Toronto and Lakhveer Singh have been named as accused in the chargesheet and shown as absconders.
The anti-terror agency said the duo conspired to eliminate “anti-Khalistan entities in India”
The NIA said Sunny Toronto and Lakhveer Singh contacted Sukhmeet Pal Singh to execute the murder with the aim of reviving terrorism in India, especially in Punjab. Sunny Toronto also got in contact with radicalized youth in Punjab, like Inderjit Singh, alias Inder, to murder Sandhu.
“The main objective of the Khalistan Liberation Force is to create Khalistan by means of an armed struggle,” the NIA said in its affidavit.
The agency further said the KLF leadership believes that they can revive the Khalistan movement by targeting members of specific communities to polarize the society of Punjab on communal lines.
“Organizations and persons who oppose the ideology of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale are the prime targets of the group,” the affidavit said.