The anti-terror federal probe agency NIA today submitted in Delhi High Court that it has conducted raids at 31 locations across Punjab and Haryana to unravel and unearth the full contours of the conspiracy behind the March 19 attack on the High Commission of India in London, and bring to book the various attackers and assailants.
The NIA in an official statement said, “We are leaving no stone unturned to pinpoint culpability in the London attack and arrest the perpetrators, their associates and their supporters, based in India and abroad”.
“We have been carrying out extensive investigations into the incident with a view to ensuring there is no repeat of such breach of security, disrespect to the Indian National Flag or any threat to Indian interests abroad,” the NIA said.
The districts where these raids took place today include Moga, Barnala, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, SBS Nagar, Amritsar, Mukhtsar, Sangrur, Patiala, Mohali in Punjab and Sirsa in Haryana. The raids were conducted at two premises of the UK based NGO Khalsa Aid in Patiala along with house of Paramjit Singh Pamma, a Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) militant in Mohali and UK based Khalistani separatist Loveshinder Singh’s house in Jalandhar along with others whose names have cropped up in increasing anti-India Khalistani activities in UK.
The raids led to the seizure of digital data containing information related to the accused persons involved in the attack on the High Commission and other incriminating documents and evidence, it said.
The High Commission of India in London was attacked in March by a group of about 50 people, who committed criminal trespass, disrespect to the Indian National flag, and damage to public property and injuries to officials of the High Commission of India. “The attack was organised by Gurcharan Singh, Dal Khalsa, UK; Avtar Singh Khanda of KLF, Jasvir Singh and many of their associates, both Indian and foreign nationals, who have been identified as part of the agency’s investigations,” the agency said.
An NIA probe team had visited the UK in May 2023 to investigate the attack. Subsequently, a crowdsourcing of information was also carried out to identify and collect information about UK-based entities and individuals involved in the incident, based on which the agency identified many of the attackers.