KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
Origins of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) can be traced back to Babbar Akali Movement in 1920. However, its latest violent incarnation was created in the aftermath of sectarian clash on April 13, 1978 between Nirankaris and activists of Akhand Kirtani Jatha. The clash had resulted in the death of Akhand Kirtani Jatha Chief Fauja Singh. In the aftermath during 1979-80, members of Akhand Kirtani Jatha under the leadership of Sukhdev Singh Babbar and Talwinder Singh Parmar formed the BKI. The BKI’S existence first came to notice in leaflets which were distributed after the killing of Nirankari Sect head in 1980. There are at least two known factions of BKI. The first splinter faction was formed in 1992, when Talwinder Singh Parmar the co-founder of BKI split from the principal body and formed Babbar Khalsa Parmar.
The faction has presence primarily in Europe (UK, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland) as well as North America. Since 2017, another splinter faction of BKI, identified as Jatha Bir Khalsa has come into existence.
The main objective of BKI is the secession from India and the formation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh country. Babbar Khalsa is a sectarian group. It targeted the Nirankari sect as well as its sympathizers. BKI was involved in killing of Baba Gurbachan Singh, the head of Nirankari Sect on April 24, 1980.
Besides being active in Punjab, BKI also has presence in foreign countries. BKI formed its first Overseas unit in Canada in 1979. BKI’s presence has been reported in UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Portugal and Pakistan. It also has presence and linkages in Thailand and Malaysia.
Main avenues of funding for BKI has been drug smuggling and funds from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). ISI has also imparted training in sabotage, handling explosives, arms and ammunition to BKI cadres. It has been reported that ISI has attempted to make Wadhwa Singh of BKI give unequivocal support to ‘referendum 2020’. After Ajmal Kasab’s hanging, ISI had funded BKI to revive Khalistani terrorism and target Indian nuclear facilities, hijacking Indian aircrafts and attack any US targets in India. BKI also have dependended on donations from the Sikh Diaspora in US, Canada and European countries. According to NIA, Sikh Organisation for Prisoner Welfare (SoPW), Akhand Kirtanee Jattha (AKJ) and Khalsa Aid are front organisations for BKI. BKI also has nexus with ISYF, Sikh Youth of America and Sikh Youth of Belgium
More than 100 Sikh youths in small batches from U.K., Germany, Belgium, USA and Canada have been trained by BKI from time to time.
BKI has specialized in targeted assassinations as well as mass killings. It has been involved in killings with small arms as well as explosives. BKI was considered to be the most fanatical of all Khalistani groups. They have used the tactic of suicide bombing to kill then then Punjab CM Beant Singh. BKI was also involved in the assassination attempt on retired General Kuldip Singh Brar in London in 2012.
Sukhdev Singh Babbar and Talwinder Singh Parmar founded BKI. Wadhwa Singh Babbar is the current leader of BKI and is based in Pakistan. Wadhawa Singh, Mehal Singh (Deputy Chief, BKI, are based in Pakistan, Joga Singh, the ‘general secretary’ is based in UK, Avtar Singh Sanghera ‘vice president’ of BKI is based in UK. Meanwhile Jatinder Singh alias Kaka and Hardevinder Singh are based in Germany, and other leaders Jagdish Singh Bhura and Massa Singh are based in Denmark and Norway respectively.
Other known high-profile activists of BKI based in Canada are Manvir Singh Dhura (also associated with ISYF), Gurjit Singh Cheema (also associated with ISYF), Gurjinder Singh Pannu (also associated with ISYF), Gurpreet Singh (also associated with ISYF), Malkeet Singh alias Fauji (also associated with ISYF), Moninder Singh. Some of its UK based known members are Gursharanbir Singh (also associated with KLF), Satnam Singh, Jagjit Singh, Kulwant Singh Hayer, Sarabjit Singh Banur.
Some of known USA based members of BKI are Gurnek Singh Neka, Gursharan Singh and Karnail Singh. Some of the BKI cadres currently known to be operating in Germany are Resham Singh Babbar, Gurbinder Singh alias Goldy, Harjot Singh alias Happy and Balwinder Singh Adtiya A BKI member known to be active in France is Parshotam Singh Pamma.
BKI is banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 by the Union Ministry Home Ministry, Government of India.
Date: 14-Oct-2007
Casualties: Six killed and 35 injured
Details: Six persons were killed and 35 wounded in BKI orchestrated blast in Shingar Cinema in Ludhiana, Punjab.
Date: 15-Apr-1990
Casualties: 11 killed and 39 injured
Details: BKI orchestrated explosion killed 11 and wounded 39 in a Delhi bound bus at Panipat, Haryana.
Date: 23-Jun-1985
Casualties: 329 Killed
Details: BKI executed a bomb blast in an Air India Flight - Kanishka - in mid-air over Atlantic Ocean killing all 329 passengers and crew members.
| Incident Date | Incident | Civilian Killed | Military Killed | Security Force Killed | Civilian Injured | Military Injured | Security Force Injured | Civilian Abducted | Military Abducted | Security Force Abducted |
| 18-Mar-2023 | The hearing in the 2005 sedition case filed against Jagtar Singh Hawara, the chief of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) who is currently serving a life sentence for the assassination of former Chief Minister (CM) Beant Singh, has been postponed until April 1. The court in Chandigarh was set to hear arguments regarding the charges on March 18, with Hawara scheduled to appear through a video link. However, it was discovered that he had been relocated to Delhi's Mandoli jail, while the video link created connected with Tihar Jail. The court attempted unsuccessfully to connect with the new facility, leading to the adjournment of the hearing to April 1. | |||||||||
| 01-Mar-2023 | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on March 1 filed a supplementary chargesheet against three operatives of the banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in a case of seizure of weapons, ammunition, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Haryana in 2022. According to an NIA spokesperson, charges were brought against the accused Akash alias Akashdeep, Sukhbir Singh alias Jashan, and Jarmalpreet before a special court in Panchkula under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, and the Explosives Substances Act. | |||||||||
| 28-Feb-2023 | On February 28, Waris Punjab De head Amritpal Singh visited to honour the death anniversaries of two militants. One was observed at Manochahal village in Tarn Taran district for Bhindranwala Tiger Force (BTF) chief Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, while another was observed in Chabba village in Amritsar district for Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) Sukhdev Singh Chabba. During both gatherings, Amritpal Singh was offered 'siropas' (robe of honour) by the organizers. When addressing the public, Amritpal defended his recent act of carrying the Guru Granth Sahib to Ajnala. "Only Guru Granth Sahib can guide us from darkness to light," he said. | |||||||||
| 23-Feb-2023 | During the recent nationwide raids conducted by National Investigation Agency (NIA) at 76 locations across eight states, it arrested six suspects, including a close associate of designated terrorist Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla, identified as Lucky Khokhar alias Denis, said NIA on February 23. According to the central counter-terrorism law enforcement agency, the other five accused who were arrested in the raid, identified as, Lakhvir Singh, Harpreet, Dalip Bishnoi, Surinder alias Chiku Chaudhary and Hari Om alias Titul. So far, NIA has revealed that they have been involved in smuggling arms, ammunition, explosives etc. across international and inter-state borders in India for several Khalistani terror outfits, including the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). | |||||||||
| 16-Feb-2023 | The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mohali on February 16 convicted Kulwinder Singh Khanpuria of the banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) for waging a war against the country. He was produced before the court through video-conferencing. The NIA had registered a case against Khanpuria in 2019. He was arrested on November 21, 2022, from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi while he was returning from Bangkok. The NIA had framed charges against Khanpuria for criminal conspiracy and under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The court framed charges against Khanpuria under Sections 121, 122, 123 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 17, 18, 18-B, 38 and 39 of the UAPA. | |||||||||
| 11-Feb-2023 | The Qaumi Insaaf Morcha, that is spearheading the Sikh activists protest, on February 11 blamed the state government for provoking the protesters who clashed with police forces near the Chandigarh-Mohali border on February 8. Gurcharan Singh, foster father of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was convicted of assassinating former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Beant Singh, alleged that with the aim to remove the morcha from YPS Chowk, Punjab Police was harassing the kin of the protesters and threatening them. | |||||||||
| 24-Jan-2023 | The Punjab Police arrested notorious gangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Baghwanpuria, allegedly been associated with the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Sikh For Justice (SFJ), from Delhi’s Tihar Jail. He was taken to Punjab on transit remand and was later sent to police custody by a court there. | |||||||||
| 22-Jan-2023 | According to report, the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) of Punjab Police booked five people including gangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria for their alleged links with the terror outfits. The accused also include some people based in foreign countries who have been involved in terror activities in the past. Apart from Bhagwanpuria, those booked were identified as Amritpal Singh, UK-based Paramjeet Singh alias Pamma, USA-based Darmanjot Singh Chahal and Pargat Singh. It was alleged in the First Information Report (FIR) that Bhagwanpuria and Pargat Singh had ties with proscribed outfits Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) to carry out terror related activities in Punjab. | |||||||||
| 21-Jan-2023 | Three days after Khanna police claimed to have busted the target killing and extortion module operated by a United States (US)-based gangster with links to the international terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) with the arrest of 13 accused, including a woman, National Investigation Agency (NIA) reached Khanna and initiated investigation. Inspector General (IG, Ludhiana zone) Kaustubh Sharma said that the Khanna police have shared details with the NIA about arrested accused, recovered weapons and ammunition. The NIA concentrated on gangster Amrit Bal’s loyalist Daljit Kaur alias Maano of Jadu Nangal in Amritsar. The NIA team enquired about money transactions made by the gangsters hiding in foreign countries. The IG added that one of the accused, Harsimranjit Singh, who is a truck driver, had smuggled weapons for the module. The accused had used to hide the weapons in his truck while transporting the materials here and there. Further, he added that all 13 accused were assigned tasks by Amrit Bal. Daljit Kaur Maano used to convey the orders of Amrit Bal to the rest of the members of the module. | |||||||||
| 18-Jan-2023 | The Khanna police busted an international extortion and targeted killing module operated by Amrit Bal-Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang which has links with foreign-based terrorist organization, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). According to police, they have arrested a total of 13 persons till now, including target suppliers, shooters and shelter providers and seized five illegal weapons and 53 live cartridges from them. The arrested accused have been identified as Mahinder Verma, alias DK, of Madhya Pradesh; Ramesh of Rajasthan; Sandeep Singh Shelly of Fatehgarh Sahib; Gurjant Singh, alias Janti, and Sukhvir Singh, both of Ludhiana; Rafi and Waris Ali, both of Malerkotla; Charlas and Parveen Singh, both of Gurdaspur, and Harsimranjit Singh Simma, Sarabjot Singh, Daljit Kaur, alias Mano, and Shamsher Singh, all four of Amritsar. Ludhiana Range Inspector General (IG) Kaustubh Sharma, said Amrit Bal and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria had given the job of 14 targeted killings to the suspects. “It all started on December 5, 2022 when the Khanna police arrested two persons — Mahinder Verma and Ramesh Chauhan — from whom a .32 bore pistol, a .315 country made, 10 live cartridges were seized. During their questioning, their links with gangster Bal came to the fore. In November 2022, these two were also sent to Yamunanagar in Haryana by Bal but they could not commit killing due to some reasons,” he added. On the further disclosures of these two, three more gang members Gurjant, Sandeep and Sukhvir were arrested with a US-made .45 bore and 20 live cartridges and on further questioning, these three admitted that on the directions of Bal, Mahinder and Ramesh were to commit a killing in Batala and Harsimranjit, Shamsher and Charlas were to arrange shelter and arms for them there, said the IG, adding that on December 18, these three were nabbed with illegal weapons. The arrested woman, Daljit Kaur, is a close confidant of Bal; Sarabjot Singh and Parmod, alias Bahman (yet to be arrested), are her aides and three used to get instructions for targeted killings from Bal and Bhagwanpuria and they would then arrange resources for shooters, said the IG, adding that on December 24-25, Sarabjot and Kaur were arrested. | |||||||||
| 18-Jan-2023 | Police submitted a supplementary report against two accused in the Mohali rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack case in a local court on January 18. The RPG was fired at Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali on May 9, 2022. The supplementary report was submitted in the court of additional district and sessions judge Avtar Singh against key accused Charat Singh and the sole juvenile in the case whom the juvenile justice board has recently directed to treat as an adult. Police claimed that the May 9 attack was conspired by the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) backing. | |||||||||
| 13-Jan-2023 | According to reports, the Melbourne Temple vandalism has shocked the Indian community in Australia. The walls of the Melbourne’s Mill Park BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir had slogans saying Hindustan Murdabad and with praises of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the controversial Khalistani militant leader. Report said, there are grave concerns amongst the community and the Australian government regarding the spread of Indian anti national Khalistani elements in Australia. The Australian national newspaper reported in December 2022 that senior Indian government officials have raised the alarm over the growth of Sikh separatism in Australia and its links to terrorist groups in India, warning the Albanese government ministers of the movement’s propensity for violence. The report in the paper also attributed a source in the Indian government having concerns that the local Khalistani movement leaders were recruiting impressionable Indian Sikhs in Australia “who didn’t know what they were getting into.” There are concerns that the Sikh separatist groups Baber Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) which are all banned by India could be infiltrating Australia, as they have created a foothold in Canada. With the close relationship between India and Australia emerging, Australia needs to do more to stamp out these Indian anti-national elements in the community, the report added. | |||||||||
| 13-Jan-2023 | A National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Panchkula has declared Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, as a proclaimed offender in the May 2022 Bastara toll plaza (Karnal District, Haryana) case where three IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and arms and ammunition were seized. Recently, the Punjab Police had stated in a press conference that the report on Rinda’s death in Pakistan due to drug overdose wasn’t confirmed. The court on January 11 directed the NIA to furnish the list of properties, movable or immovable, owned by Rinda for attachment. As per the NIA, during the investigation it was revealed that the explosives were sent by Rinda from Pakistan. | |||||||||
| 24-Dec-2022 | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on December 24 conducted multiple searches at different locations in Punjab pertaining to the case relates to terror activities of chiefs/members of proscribed terrorist organizations, such as Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) etc. NIA said the terror activities include smuggling of terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition explosives and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) across International Borders (IB) for use by operatives and members of terror outfits and organized criminal gangs operating in various parts of the country for carrying out terrorist acts like bomb explosions, targeted killings etc. Incriminating materials, including digital devices and documents have been recovered during the raids. | |||||||||
| 26-Nov-2022 | A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sent Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorist Kulwinderjit Singh alias Khanpuria – who was allegedly involved in attacks on establishments connected to the Dera Sacha Sauda and Punjab Police, to three-day custody on November 26. The NIA sought his custody to probe a case registered against him at the Rajasansi Police Station in Amritsar after a bag with two hand grenades and a mobile phone was recovered from two bike-borne men at a check post in Amritsar in 2019. | |||||||||
| 04-Nov-2022 | According to officials, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against six suspected terrorists of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in a case related to the seizure of arms and explosives from a vehicle in Haryana in May. The charge-sheeted accused included Pakistan-based Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda of the proscribed terrorist organization, BKI, who has sent the weapons through drones into the Indian territory for executing terrorist acts in India, a spokesperson of the NIA said. According to officials, the case was initially registered on May 5 at Madhuban police station in Haryana under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosive Substances Act and the Arms Act, and re-registered by the NIA on May 24. | |||||||||
| 13-May-2022 | Five suspected persons were arrested in connection with the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack at its intelligence headquarters in Mohali, the Punjab Police said on May 13, adding that the act was carried out by a nexus of militant outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and gangsters. Director General of Police (DGP), V K Bhawra said a sixth accused is in Police custody in a separate case. “In addition, two people — Mohd Nasim Alam and Mohd Sharaf Raj — have been brought for questioning from Noida. They originally hail from Bihar. We have not arrested them yet and they are being questioned.” The five suspects arrested were identified as Jagdeep Singh Kang, Baljit Kaur alias Sukhi, Baljinder Singh alias Rambo, Kanwarjit Singh alias Kanwar Bath and Anant Deep Singh alias Sonu. DGP, Bhawra said the role of BKI and gangsters at the behest of the ISI has come to the fore. “The key conspirator who organised all logistics is Tarn Taran resident Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, who used to be a gangster and had shifted to Canada in 2017,” the DGP said, adding, “He is a close associate of gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, who operates from Pakistan.” Landa provided the RPG, AK-47 and the local network of criminals for logistic support to carry out the attack, the Punjab Police chief said, adding that the three suspects who carried out the attack were still on the run. | |||||||||
| 19-Jan-2022 | According to official sources, at least nine pro-Khalistan activities, including Jaswinder Singh Multani, the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) operative who was recently booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the charge of attempting to revive terrorism in Punjab, have been operating from Germany for the past several years. Interpol Red Notices are pending against four of these suspects, Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, Gurmeet Singh Bagga and Shaminder Singh of the banned Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF); and against Harjot Singh of the proscribed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). Bhinda, an associate of Pakistan-based KZF chief Ranjeet Singh Neeta, was sentenced by a Frankfurt court in December 2012 to jail for four years and seven months for conspiring to kill the Radha Soami Beas Dera head during his visit to Germany in July 2010. According to government records, Bagga is wanted in three cases of explosives smuggling from Pakistan to Punjab. He was also sentenced to a four years’ prison term by a German court for the assassination bid on the Dera chief in Vienna. He has been trying to get asylum in Germany. The official said that in 2019-20, Bagga, with Neeta’s help, had weapons smuggled into Punjab from across the border using Pakistan-controlled drones. It was also found that another key suspect named Shaminder Singh went to Germany in 2011. He is closely associated with Bagga and one Belgium-based Jagdish Singh. “He had motivated two individuals, Palwinder Singh and Sandeep Kumar, who were arrested along with a woman, Jaswinder Kaur. Arms and ammunitions were seized from them,” the official said. The list includes accused Multani, whose role is also being probed in the recent Ludhiana court blast case. In November 2021, another official said he had claimed that a grenade attack at Punjab’s crime investigation agency office in Nawanshahr was the handiwork of his team. The NIA has announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh on him in the latest case. | |||||||||
| 15-Jan-2022 | According to reports, the central intelligence agencies have alerted the Punjab government that with only 30 days to go for the upcoming Assembly elections, terrorists may carry out a major attack in the state. A high alert has been issued to central and state government intelligence agencies in this regard and orders have been issued to strengthen security. According to the alert, Pakistan terrorists Wadhwa Singh Babbar (BKI), Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Ranjit Singh Neeta (KZF), Lakhbir Singh Rode (ISYF) are being used by Pakistan’s intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). An alert sent to the Punjab government also said that RDX can also be used in elections in Punjab. | |||||||||
| 25-Nov-2021 | On November 25, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against Hardeep Singh Nijjar of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in a case of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts against India. Nijjar, from Jalandhar in Punjab, is currently based in Surrey, Canada. The NIA said in a statement. “He used to send funds to India…for developing a network of sympathisers for targeted killings in Punjab and was trying to arrange ammunition from his Pakistan-based associates for his nefarious plans.” | |||||||||
| 07-Sep-2021 | The court of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on September 7 framed charges against seven Khalistani operatives in the hand grenades seizure case in Mohali District. The charges have been framed against seven Khalistani operatives Jajbir Singh Samra alias Judge alias Jass resident of Tarn Taran, Varinder Singh Chahal resident of Amritsar, Kulbir Singh resident of Nawan Shahar, Manjit Kaur resident of Ludhiana, Taranbir Singh alias Khanpuria resident of Amritsar, under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Kulwinderjit Singh alias Khanpuria an operative of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and Harmeet Singh alias PhD, Pakistan based self-styled ‘chief’ of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), 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. | |||||||||
| 22-Aug-2021 | Amritpal Singh, an alleged operative of the banned militant outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), met the UK-based Gurpreet Singh Khalsa, when he went to New Zealand in 2015, this revelation came to light during the interrogation of Amritpal and Sammy on August 22, who are currently in the Police custody. The duo was arrested by the Amritsar (rural) Police on August 15 with two hand grenades and a pistol. | |||||||||
| 20-Apr-2021 | The recent charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against 7 operatives of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in connection with a narco-smuggling case clearly suggests that the BKI continues to be backed heavily by the ISI, which is aiming cause a huge unrest in the country. The report said that the BKI with the ISI was drumming up support abroad and, in the bargain, earned a lot of sympathizers. While Pakistan continued to provide shelter, the Khalistan outfits began drumming up support abroad, especially in Canada, UK and the US. During the farmer protests it was seen that several pro-Khalistan voices had offered support and were attempting to create unrest in several parts of the country in the name of the protests. | |||||||||
| 17-Apr-2021 | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on April 17 filed a charge-sheet against seven narco-smugglers associated with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). The charge sheet exposes the plot of Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and banned terror outfit BKI. Pakistani ISI handler Arif told accused Gurpartap Singh that he will sell the heroin and then either he will buy weapons for BKI and other terrorists or provide the money to the terrorists and operatives of BKI. Arif also told that the proposed consignment will be for Gurpartap. In addition, he also told that Gurpartap has strong connections with ISI in Pakistan. The NIA charge-sheet says, “Investigation has established that accused Gurpartap Singh has been involved in smuggling of heroin and gold since 2004. He has been part of the larger conspiracy of smuggling of heroin and arms/ammunition into India to actively assist revival of BKI activities. He is an active member of BKI. His role is to collect proceeds of heroin and collect arms/ammunitions smuggled from Pakistan into India and forward them to the cadres of BKI and to create unrest in Punjab. In the first week of June, 2020 Sham Lal visited the house of Gurpartap Singh.” It further added that accused Ajeet Kumar remained an operative of BKI. He was involved in the 2005 Delhi Cinema Blast which was claimed by BKI. He had also been part of a larger conspiracy of smuggling of heroin, arms and ammunition into India for the revival of BKI cadres. Accused Ajeet Kumar played a vital role in transporting heroin. | |||||||||
| 04-Oct-2020 | Punjab Police busted a Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terror module with the arrest of two terrorists, identified as Makhan Singh Gill alias Amli and Davinder Singh alias Happy, from Noorpur Jattan village in Hoshiarpur district. Police also recovered sophisticated arms and ammunition, including an MP5 sub-machine gun (with two magazines and 30 rounds) and a 9mm pistol (with two magazines and 30 rounds), besides an Etios car, four mobile phones and an Internet dongle. The Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said that during preliminary investigations, Makhan disclosed they were in touch with Canada-based Harpreet Singh, who had instigated them to set up a terror module in Punjab to carry out targeted killings. Makhan, who had earlier been a close aide of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Wadhawa Singh Babbar, claimed KZF operative Harpreet was a frequent visitor to Pakistan and was an associate of Pakistan-based KZF chief Ranjeet Singh, alias Neeta. The DGP also said that Makhan was a hardcore pro-Khalistan militant who had earlier been arrested by the Punjab Police for involvement in arms smuggling and various terror-related offences. As many as seven cases had been registered against him. Pakistan-trained Makhan had stayed in the US during the 1980s and 90s. He had also stayed with the BKI chief in Pakistan for over 14 years, added the DGP. | |||||||||
| 25-Aug-2020 | A court in Barmer district of Rajasthan sentenced 10 men, including an operative of banned terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), to life imprisonment in a case related to the seizure of large cache of explosives and weapons in 2009. According to the judgment, back in September 2009, the police had received information that consignments of explosives and weapons smuggled from Pakistan were to be delivered to a terrorist organisation based in Punjab by a smuggler, Sodha Khan alias Lunia. Following this, the weapons and explosives were seized by the police and the accused arrested. Jagmohan Singh, one of the 10 convicted, is a member of BKI and had come to Rajasthan to take delivery of the smuggled explosives and weapons, said the judgment. The court said in its judgment that after examining all evidence, it is proved that the accused, in connivance with Pakistan-based smugglers related to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and terrorists of BKI obtained the weapons for carrying out terrorist attacks in the country along with the objective of spreading enmity between people from different religions. In the judgment, Special Judge Singh said that based on call record details, it has been proved that the accused were in touch with England-based Chief of BKI Paramjit Singh alias Pamma. The judgment also said that the accused wanted to revive terrorism in Punjab. | |||||||||
| 30-Jul-2020 | The European Council decided to renew the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka, along with 20 other organizations including Babar Khalsa, Hizbul Mujahideen’ and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). | |||||||||
| 14-Jul-2020 | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the residence of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militant Paramjit Singh Pamma and interrogated his parents at Phase 3B2 in Mohali in SAS Nagar district. According to sources, Pamma, who is currently working in close association with Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has been abroad for a long time. The NIA team searched the entire house and also seized the passbooks of bank accounts in which Pamma was depositing money. They also inquired about Pamma’s remittances and other foreign funds and noted the details of the fixed deposit (FD) accounts of the elderly couple. Pamma’s parents, Amrik Singh and Ratan Kaur, said the search went on from around 10.30 am till 4 pm. | |||||||||
| 01-Jul-2020 | Government of India declared nine individuals, including pro-Khalistani leader and the key member of banned outfit Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA]. Pannun, who organized the Khalistan 2020 referendum, has been seen actively running a campaign against India and motivating Sikh youngsters in his home state of Punjab to join militancy. The others who have been designated by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) as individual terrorists under the UAPA include Paramjit Singh (Babbar Khalsa International), Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Khalistan Tiger Force), Gurmit Singh Bagga (Khalistan Zindabad Force), Wadhawa Singh Babbar (Babbar Khalsa International), Lakhbir Singh (International Sikh Youth Federation), Ranjeet Singh (Khalistan Zindabad Force), Paramjit Singh (Khalistan Commando Force), Bhupinder Singh Bhinda (Khalistan Zindabad Force). Following an amendment in the UAPA recently, the UMHA declared a total of 13 persons as individual terrorists till date. In an official statement the U said, “These individuals are involved in various acts of terrorism from across the border and from foreign soil. They have been relentless in their nefarious efforts of destabilising the country, by trying to revive militancy in Punjab through their anti-national activities and through their support to and involvement in the Khalistan Movement.” | |||||||||
| 17-Mar-2020 | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Mohali framed charges against three Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives, identified as Ravinderpal Singh alias Ravi, Jagdev Singh alias Sonu (both belong to Punjab), and Harcharan Singh (Delhi), who were arrested for disturbing communal harmony in Punjab. However, the court discharged Nishan Singh alias Punia, as the NIA failed to file challan against him. The court will begin the trial in the case on April 9. The court had declared Kulwinderjit Singh alias Khanpuriya, who is now in Malaysia and mastermind in the case, as a proclaimed offender (PO) in February 2020. Ravinderpal and Jagdev were arrested in May 2019 for planning a terror strike in Punjab. Later, Punia and Harcharan were arrested from Amritsar district. | |||||||||
| 03-Feb-2020 | The Special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court in Mohali declared alleged Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist, Kulwinderjit Singh alias Khanpuria as a proclaimed offender (PO). Kulwinderjit Singh, who is wanted in multiple cases of terror acts in Punjab, is reportedly in Malaysia. NIA had filed a charge sheet in a terror conspiracy case on November 21, 2019, against four alleged BKI terrorists including Kulwinderjit Singh and NIA had already got a lookout circular issued against him, an officer said. | |||||||||
| 14-Jan-2020 | Senior officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) are looking at intelligence reports of rising incidents of weapons being pushed into India by Pakistan to aid Khalistani militants. According to sources, the probe into weapons smuggling began late last year (2019) after a Khalistani module was busted in Ludhiana in Punjab. Sources said that based on the interrogation reports of the two suspects - a woman who worked as a nurse in Faridkot and a man who used to work as a driver in Dubai - who were arrested in Ludhiana in November 2019, and additional intel inputs, senior officials at the UMHA have understood that large cache of weapons have been pushed inwards through some routes in Haryana and Rajasthan. It also added that the Pakistani handlers who are abetting the revival of Khalistani movement in the country have met some senior members of proscribed outfits - Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) in Pakistan recently. | |||||||||
| 26-Dec-2019 | After the Intelligence inputs which said that Pakistan’s ISI has planned on unleashing Khalistani terrorists to strike in various places in Punjab, the border areas of Punjab have been placed in a state of very high alert. Earlier, the intercepts picked up on the air waves suggested that the ISI has tasked the Babbar Khalsa to carry out the attack and there are attempts to smuggle the arms into Punjab. | |||||||||
| 25-Dec-2019 | Intelligence agencies sources claim that the Khalistani terrorists have escalated their efforts to smuggle weapons from Pakistan to Punjab to carry out terror attacks in Punjab. Sources also revealed that terror groups like Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) are in contact with their Pakistani handlers to smuggle weapons across the India-Pakistan border. | |||||||||
| 28-Sep-2019 | India announced on September 28 that eight Sikh prisoners housed in Indian jails – Lal Singh, Davindar Pal Singh Bhullar, Harjinder Singh, Gurdeep Singh Khera, Waryam Singh, Subheg Singh, Nand Singh and Balbir Singh – would be prematurely released in a special exemption coinciding with the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. It also said that the death sentence handed to Rajoana, of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) outfit, was being commuted to a life sentence. | |||||||||
| 12-Aug-2019 | Former MLA, Virsa Singh Valtoha had to face ire from the locals during his address on the death anniversary of Sukhdev Singh Babbar of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) at Dasuwal in Tarn Taran District in Punjab. Valtoha talked about his association with BKI. When he spoke on opening an old murder case of Patti-based surgeon Dr Sudarshan Trehan, who was shot on November 15, 1984, the organisers switched off the public address system and Valtoha was made to sit. | |||||||||
| 29-Jul-2019 | The NIA special court in Mohali in Punjab sent all the four ISI-backed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) module members to judicial custody. The accused were initially arrested by Amritsar Police on charges of disturbing the state’s communal harmony, during the Ghalughara (massacre) week. | |||||||||
| 22-Jul-2019 | The NIA court remanded four Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists, Ravinder Pal Singh, Jagdev Singh, Nishan Singh and Harcharan Singh, till July 29, 2019. NIA took custody of the four, who were part of Amritsar module of BKI, from Punjab Police. | |||||||||
| 10-Jul-2019 | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Lucknow convicted five operatives of the ‘Babbar Khalsa’ outfit facing charges under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and also conspiring to assassinate former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in 2018, apart from supporting the Khalistan movement. The NIA had filed charge sheet against five accused, Gurjant Singh alias Jinta of Saharanpur, Amrit Singh of Haryana, Karam Singh, Karamveer Singh and Jarman Singh, who belong to Shamli. They were lodged in Lucknow District jail. | |||||||||
| 09-Jul-2019 | Malaysia detained four foreigners, including a 24-year-old Indian national who had allegedly acted as a facilitator to a senior member of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) - a Khalistani separatist group. The other arrestees were identified as two ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar (detained for providing support to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army [ARSA], the insurgent group) and a 54-year-old Philippine national with alleged ties to Abu Sayyaf, a militant organisation aligned with the Islamic State (IS). | |||||||||
| 18-Jun-2019 | Micro-blogging site Twitter has suspended pro-Khalistan propagandist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's account following a complaint by the Indian Government. The legal adviser of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) -Pannun's account was suspended after a complaint by Sikh community claiming that Pannun is radicalizing Sikh youth with the help of illegal immigrants in the US and Canada. UK police arrested him in 2000, when he was entering England via Germany while returning from Pakistan after receiving terror training. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison as he was associated with proscribed organization Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). | |||||||||
| 11-Jun-2019 | An intelligence report has revealed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is helping pro-Khalistan militant group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) to strengthen its network across Britain. The BKI has expanded its presence in cities like Birmingham, Derby and Coventry. | |||||||||
| 06-Jun-2019 | Gopal Singh Chawla, the General Sectary of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) raised anti-India slogans and said that he will support groups like Babbar Khalsa, Commando Force, Sikh Youth Federation, Khalistan Force and added that they are on the same platform. | |||||||||
| 04-May-2019 | Police arrested two persons, Arvinder Singh and Jaspreet Singh, allegedly linked to the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and recovered 15 passports, a pistol, six live cartridges and Pakistani currency worth 15,000 from their possession in Nawanshahr District of Punjab. | |||||||||
| 31-Mar-2019 | Punjab Police stated that a militant cell (consisting Harvinder Singh, Sultan Singh, Karamjeet Singh, Lovepreet Singh, and Gurpreet Singh) was busted in an unspecified location in the state in which 32 bore pistol along with a magazine and four live rounds and 15 letter pads of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) were recovered from the arrestees. The accused were planning to kill Hindu leaders and members of Dera Sacha Sauda. They were planning to arrange weapons training in Jammu and Kashmir and were in touch with Khalistani militants including Jagtar Singh Hawara of BKI who is in jail, Ranjit Singh Pakhoke, active member of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), residing in Germany. | |||||||||
| 14-Feb-2019 | Security has been stepped up for the Additional Sessions Judge Randhir Verma who had sentenced the three BKI activists. Superintendent of Police (SP) Harish Dayama stated that ‘In view of protests in Nawanshahr and around, we have provided more security to the judge’. | |||||||||
| 05-Feb-2019 | Nawanshahr District Court announced life imprisonment to three Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militants identified as Arvinder Singh, Surjit Singh and Ranjit Singh. They were charged under Section 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war), along with 10 years of imprisonment under Section 121 (a) (Conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). | |||||||||
| 06-Jan-2019 | An alleged Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative and fund raiser, Bhupinder Singh alias Dilawar, wanted in a May 2017 case in Punjab, has been deported to India by Saudi Arabia. He was produced in the court of a duty magistrate and was remanded to six days in police custody. | |||||||||
| 23-Jun-2018 | Paying the tribute to the 329 victims of 1985 Air India bombing Kanishka Flight 182, the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau marked it as the ‘single worst terrorist attack’ in Canada’s history. “The Air India bombing remains the single worst terrorist attack in Canada’s history. This horrific act of malice and destruction left families and friends grieving the loss of loved ones, and brought pain that will never completely go away,” said PM Trudeau. “Canada condemns all forms of terrorism. We stand in solidarity with our allies, and the international community in the ongoing fight to prevent radicalisation and fight terrorism at home and abroad. On behalf of the Government of Canada, I extend my condolences to everyone everywhere who has lost loved ones to terrorism. We also thank and honour those who work each day to keep our citizens, communities, and country safe,” said PM Trudeau. The British Columbia Supreme Court judge and a public inquiry later found that the bombings were carried out by the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)—a Sikh terrorist outfit, headed by former Burnaby mill worker Talwinder Singh Parmar. Air India Flight 182, bound for London after picking up passengers in Toronto and Montreal, vanished from the radar off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985. A bomb planted on the plane exploded on board, killing all 329 persons on board, including 280 Canadians. | |||||||||
| 07-May-2018 | The NIA has registered a FIR against Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a resident in Canada and Khalistani militant, for allegedly planning terrorist attacks in Punjab. Against Nijjar, a case was registered under Sections 120-B, 124-A, and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Sections 10, 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UA(P)A], and Section 25 of the Arms Act after the recommendations from the UMHA. According to the FIR, Nijjar and other members of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) planned to promote disharmony among different groups on the basis of religion and to revive terrorism in Punjab. The FIR also linked Nijjar’s associates with the conspiracy to target the members of RSS. | |||||||||
| 31-Mar-2018 | The experts based in Jammu and Chandigarh believes that the pro-Khalistani groups based in the UK and other foreign countries are discredited bunches and working on support from Pakistan. A group of radical Sikhs based in UK, including Wadhwa Singh of Sikh militant outfit—Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) are completely supported by Pakistan-based terrorist outfits, with an objective to conducts act of terrorism in India, claimed experts. Recently, a group of British-Sikhs and Kashmiri separatists based in the UK, held a meeting to organise an anti-India campaign during Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK to attend the Commonwealth Summit on April 18. | |||||||||
| 20-Mar-2018 | 2018 March 20 Former militant of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)—Ranjit Singh alias Rana (55) on March 20 was produced before the Judicial Magistrate of Phagwara and sent to Police remand till March 21 for further interrogation. He had been absconding for 19 years and living as a Granthi (Sikh priest) at a Gurdwara in Kohar Kalan village, near Shahkot for past 14 years. In preliminary interrogation, Ranjit Singh confessed to have connections with other Sikh terrorist Satnam Singh alias Satta and Gurlal Singh. | |||||||||
| 19-Mar-2018 | The Punjab Police on March 19 has arrested an absconded militant, Ranjit Singh alias Rana (55) who belongs to the Bhindranwala Tigers Force (BTF), from a religious shrine at the village Kohar Kalan in Jalandhar District in Punjab. Ranjit Singh, resident of Jagatpur Jattan in Hoshiarpur District in Punjab, was working as a Granthi (Sikh priest) to conceal his identity for the past one year. He was on absconding status from 19 years, said an unnamed Police official. Rana was involved in five cases of murder and had served two years of sentence in a case, but was absconded in two other cases. Primarily, Rana was involved with BTF but did not ruled out his links with other Khalistani militant outfits such as Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), said Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandip Sharma | |||||||||
| 04-Dec-2017 | The Punjab Police filed a chargesheet against 11 Khalistan Zindabad Group (KZG) extrimist. Those named in the chargesheet included Harwinder Singh, Mohkam Singh Barnala, Amritpal Kaur, Tarsem Singh, Jarnail Singh, Satnam Singh, Sukhpreet Singh, Parminder Singh, Gaurav Kumar and Ramandeep Singh. They all were arrested in May 2017. However, one terrorist was not identified. During their arrests, the Punjab Police had recovered the letterhead of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and four weapons. The militants had formed the KZG and were planning to initiate another militant outfit — Jatha Veer Khalsa (JVK) - on the anniversary of the 1984 Operation Blue Star. These terrorists were financed by the Khalistani sympathisers based out in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom (UK), said an unnamed police official. | |||||||||
| 17-Nov-2017 | Punjab Police are investigating the role of Babbar Khalsa International (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 Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)-back International Sikh Youth Federation (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. | |||||||||
| 30-Oct-2017 | The Punjab Police claimed that the militancy is returning to the State as it has busted many groups and arrested many people who were planning to carry out terror activities in the State. It said that several of the arrested men were planning to kill those who wrote or spoke against Sikhism. The latest such case involves seven youth who were arrested from Ludhiana on September 29 for allegedly being a part of the banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). However, human rights activists and the accused’s kin have called these arrests the Police’s way to divert public attention from real developmental issues. The Police said that although the youth have no criminal past, it found incriminating evidence against them. It said that the seven accused were arrested for trying to disturb law and order by getting overactive on social media platform. The Police also recovered a 32-bore pistol, two 315 bore pistols and cartridges from the accused. The arrested accused were Kuldeep Singh alias Rimpi (29), who worked as a granthi (one who reads religious books in a Gurudwara) in Basti Jodhewal of Ludhiana, Jasvir Singh alias Jassa (32), of village Balipur of Tarn Taran; Amanpreet Singh alias Amna (21), of Shakti Nagar of Jalandhar; Onkar Singh (30), and Jugraj Singh of village Jhadu; and Amritpal Singh (30), of Amritsar. Ludhiana Police Commissioner RN Dhoke said, "The youth have no criminal background but their operations were funded by Surender Singh Babbar of BKI who operates from England." A case had been registered against the seven under the UAPA, 1967 and the Arms Act. The Police said that it has proof of the arrested accused were talking to terrorists and working for them as sleeper cells. | |||||||||
| 30-Sep-2017 | 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. | |||||||||
| 17-Sep-2017 | 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." | |||||||||
| 17-Sep-2017 | The Special Task Force (STF) arrested three members of the Babbar Khalsa International (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. | |||||||||
| 17-Aug-2017 | The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested another alleged terrorist of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), identified as Jaswant Singh Kala from an Unnao farm house in Unnao District. He is wanted in multiple cases in Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab and was hiding in the farm house for the past few weeks after allegedly killing a supporter of anti-Babbar Khalsa group in Punjab around two months ago. Kala was arrested on the revelations made by his accomplice Balwant Singh, who was staying with changed identity in Lucknow for the past five years. Balwant Singh was arrested from a Gurudwara on Nadan Mahal road in Lucknow on August 16 evening. He was Granthi at the Gurudwara. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of ATS, Rajesh Sahani said Jaswant Singh Kala has been one of the most active members of BKI. He said Kala is among Sikh hardliners who support pro-Khalistan groups. Sahani said Kala was involved in three sensational killings of the supporters of the anti-Babbar Khalsa groups in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, and Faridkot and Nawa Shahar in Punjab in 2016 and 2017. He said Jaswant was earlier arrested under sedition charges and arms act from Delhi’s Modi Colony in 2008 and on similar charges in 2005. | |||||||||
| 07-Mar-2017 | Balwinder Singh, a citizen of India, was sentenced, on March 7, to 15 years in a US prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring while living in northern Nevada to plot terror strikes in his home country (India), US. District Judge Larry Hicks in Reno also ordered Balwinder Singh to remain under lifetime federal supervision upon his release from prison after prosecutors argued that Singh has had ties to known terrorist groups in India for more than two decades. FBI Special Agent Aaron Rouse of Las Vegas said the plot was foiled after a co-conspirator was arrested trying to board a flight in San Francisco bound for Bangkok, Thailand, with two sets of night vision goggles purchased by Singh at a Cabela's sporting goods store in Reno. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Sullivan said it's possible Singh still will be extradited to India where he faces criminal charges in connection with a terror attack on a passenger bus that killed three people in India in April 2006. "This isn't somebody who was just recruited like some of the young people who think it's really cool to go get involved with the Jihad," Sullivan said. "Mr. Singh has been involved with terrorism or terrorist organizations for over 20 years."Prosecutors in the Justice Department's counterterrorism section say Singh worked with two terrorist organizations - Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) - to try to establish an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region. | |||||||||
| 22-Dec-2015 | Sikh For Justice (SFJ) who was under the radar of Intelligence agencies for aiding militants and funding of terror and the UK and Canada government would be contacted to act against the outfit. Now the Sikh for Justice raising funds to prevent the deportation of BKI militant Paramjeet Singh Pamma who is also associated with KTF and arrested in from a hotel in Portugal last week. Paramjeet was reportedly based in England on 'political asylum' since 1994-95. Paramjeet was reportedly the main fundraiser for BKI. Around INR 25, 00,000 has been raised from gurudwaras in France and the UK over the past few days, apparently to help Paramjeet engage a formidable legal defense to contest his deportation. Avtar Singh of Sikhs for Justice, a New-York based Sikh rights outfit, arrived in Paris from Canada on December 20, 2015, a couple of days after Paramjeet--wanted for 2010 twin bomb blasts in Patiala and Ambala and murder of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Rulda Singh in 2009, was arrested by the Portugal Police. | |||||||||
| 21-Nov-2015 | To revive Khalistan movement in Punjab and execute more attacks like Gurdaspur to destabilize peace in the state of Punjab recently Pakistan’s ISI held a meeting with militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). KZF 'chief', Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta, works closely with the ISI to carry out terror attacks in Punjab. Neeta has provided a two-month-long language training to LeT’s Fidayeen (suicide bombers) near Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib near Lahore, in Punjab (Pakistan). “The militants have been trained by Neeta in the Sikh tradition and Gurumukhi script. They are likely to be disguised as locals following infiltration. Local police departments and state law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert,” intelligence input based on intercepted communication revealed. ISI and terror groups sheltered by the Pakistani state authorities have been systematically trying to revive the militancy in Punjab with the help of Babbar Khalsa and outfits such as the KZF. The Pakistan-based outfits are also getting financial support from sympathizers in Germany and the UK. | |||||||||
| 02-Nov-2015 | The operations cell of the Chandigarh Police filed a detailed charge-sheet against BKI militant Jagtar Singh Tara, charging him with escaping from Police custody, sedition and waging war against the country in the Burail jailbreak case. The charge sheet included the copies of Pakistan-made fake ID card of Tara and four FIRs registered against him after his escape from the jail for spreading terrorism in Punjab. It was filed in the court of CJM Anubhav Sharma. Tara along with Jagtar Singh Hawara, Paramjeet Singh Bheora, and Devi Singh had escaped after digging a 98-foot long tunnel in January 2004. An unnamed senior police official stated, "The charges of sedition and waging war against the country were levelled against Tara based on fresh evidence like proof of his presence in Pakistan and attempts to revive terrorism." Tara was arrested by a joint team of Punjab and Thailand police from Thailand in January 2015. He was brought to Chandigarh in connection with the jailbreak case on February 17, 2015. The charge sheet was filed under sections 223, 224, 452, 457, 121, 121 A, 123, 217, 221 and 120 B of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Chandigarh Police has also filed an appeal in Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the acquittal of all jail officials in the case. | |||||||||
| 22-Oct-2015 | Intelligence agencies report that Pakistan’s ISI is behind the recent cases of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in its bid to revive the Khalistan insurgency in the state of Punjab. The involvement of Foreign hands is traced by investigations and traced calls to Australia by two suspects arrested in the Faridkot sacrilege case, Jaswinder Singh and Rupinder Singh. Police believe the funding comes from Australia and Dubai for desecration incidents. ISI is working with pro-Khalistan elements in the Sikh diasporas to revive militancy in Punjab. ISI officials in Pakistan had met militants from jihadi outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) and with Sikh militants of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) to plot strikes in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi. Nearly 15-20 militants who were trained by ISI, which also issued funds for the anti-India strikes, were acquainted with Sikh traditions and Gurumukhi script at Kartarpur Sahib, a gurudwara in Pakistan, with the help of KZF's Ranjit Singh. They were also briefed on the topography of Punjab. Even the commemoration of Operation Blue Star anniversary earlier this year by hardliner Sikh elements across the United Kingdom (UK), France, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, and Malaysia, etc, was noted with concern by Indian agencies. More recently, ISI officials had reportedly visited a gurudwara in South Hall, London, to incite trouble ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit there. A senior intelligence official claimed that ISI's mission to rekindle the embers of militancy in Punjab has been encouraged by the weakness of the state leadership and the churn in Punjab society. | |||||||||
| 05-Oct-2015 | Germany has become a meeting point of BKI and other militant groups. There have been a massive Germany based recruitments in BKI in the past few months as BKI is in immense pressure from Pakistan’s ISI to attack Indian establishments, even BKI is advised to coordinate with outfits like LeT. A few months ago, BKI’s Pakistan- based commander Wadhwa Singh and his counterpart from LeT held several meetings in Choburjee, Lahore and have been trying to orchestrate a "synchronized attack" on Punjab and Delhi as per the Indian security agencies reports and sources. | |||||||||
| 27-Sep-2015 | ISI has mobilized militants belonging to groups like LeT, JeM, and HM as well as Sikh militants associated with BKI and KZF remnants based on its soil, for possible joint strikes in Punjab, Jammu, and Kashmir, Delhi or other parts of India. | |||||||||
| 08-Jul-2015 | According to Intelligence reports Pakistan’s ISI is funding pro-Khalistan groups in India and abroad including Babbar Khalsa in India, US, Germany, and Canada. 22 Sikhs that rose slogans on the periphery of Golden Temple near Akal Takht in Amritsar recently were instructed to take help from Pakistan to spread violence in India. According to a report the Pakistani spy agency can also use the ultras of four Khalistan militant groups - Ranjit Singh Meeta - headed Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Jagtar Singh Tara-headed Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), Wadhwa Singh-led Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Harminder Singh Minto-led Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) - to revive militancy and launch terror strikes in Punjab. The ISI and the radical Sikh groups are trying to lure unemployed youths to join terror groups. | |||||||||
| 25-Feb-2015 | Failing to get UT administrator's nod for suspension of notification prohibiting BKI militant Jagtar Singh Tara's movement from Burail jail in Chandigarh, the jail authorities failed to produce him before court on the second consecutive day and have now sought time till February 27. UT Police failed in producing Tara before the court of Additional District and sessions judge Shalini S Nagpal,as the state failed to obtain suspension of the notification under section 268 of the Code of CrPC prohibiting transportation of Tara from Burail jail. Jail authorities stated before the court that Tara's movement from Burail jail was prohibited as Section 268 of the CrPC (person shall not be removed from prison till the completion of the trial) imposed on the assassination accused, was still valid.The jail authorities sought time till February 27. | |||||||||
| 22-Feb-2015 | The UMHA has decided to take a fresh look into the case against Balwant Singh Rajaona, a BKI militant who was sentenced to death after his conviction in the case pertaining to the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. The development follows the arrest of another BKI operative Jagtar Singh Tara, who was recently extradited from Thailand. Rajaona himself has refused to petition either the State Government or the Supreme Court for a stay on his death sentence. He is currently lodged in a Punjab jail. Sources said UHM Rajnath Singh has asked ministry officials to examine Rajaona's case afresh in the light of new facts that could emerge after Tara's interrogation. "Since Rajaona has refused to petition any authority for clemency, Home Ministry has decided to look into his case afresh. Since Tara has been extradited from Thailand and is presently in the custody of Punjab Police, new facts could emerge in the case. Even if there is a fraction of a chance that Rajaona was involved in the assassination case, the entire case has to be relooked into," said a senior Home Ministry official. Tara, a co-accused in the case, was facing trial for allegedly assassinating Beant Singh when he escaped along with three others through a tunnel dug inside the jail, where they were lodged in 2004. Two of the three others have been arrested, while the third is still at large. | |||||||||
| 05-Jan-2015 | Authorities in Thailand arrested Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militant, identified as Gurmeet Singh alias Jagtar Singh Tara convicted for his involvement in a bomb attack in 1995 that killed former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and at least 15 other people. Gurmeet Singh, one of six Sikh militants convicted for the blast outside government headquarters in Punjab, fled a high-security prison in Chandigarh in 2004 before receiving a life sentence in 2007. Gurmeet, entered Thailand in October 2014 and was arrested in the eastern province of Chonburi, Thai National Police Spokesman Lieutenant General Prawut Thawornsiri said. Prawut also said Gurmeet faces extradition to India. | |||||||||
| 09-Nov-2014 | Police arrested BKI militant Ramandeep Singh alias Sunny, from Cantonment Road in Bathinda, and recovered 200 grams explosive material, a timer, battery, wire, a pistol .32 bore and five letter heads of BKI. A case under the UAPA, Explosives Act and Arms Act has been registered against him at Bathinda kotwali Police Station. The arrested militant has reportedly been guided by Pakistan's ISI. Ramandeep also confessed that Babbar Khalsa militant Jagtar Singh Tara has floated a wing, KTF, and is recruiting youths to carry out militant activities in India. He had also spent a month in Thailand and Malaysia in April-May, 2014. Ramandeep was allured on Facebook by militants and BKI sources had sent him money from Europe through money transfer service. An unspecified amount of money was sent to him through a money transfer firm and he was asked to report in Thailand, while ISI agents provided him training. He had returned in May and was to conduct trails of bomb detonation. Bathinda zone IG Paramraj Singh Umranangal said, "During initial investigations, Ramandeep has confessed that he got training in making bombs and was to conduct a trial explosion at a secluded place." | |||||||||
| 27-Oct-2014 | Thailand Government issued a lookout notice for Jagtar Singh Tara, a top BKI militant, on India’s request. This is part of the Centre’s urgent crackdown on what is being termed as re-configuration and likely impetus to Punjab militancy with help from across the border. However, there is a bit of confusion on whether Tara is in Malaysia or Thailand, with sources pointing out that the border between the two countries is porous. A Thailand military Internal Security Operations Command Region (ISOC) official said border control units have been instructed to screen visitors and Tara’s photos were also posted on local police’s wanted list. The main town on the Thai-Malaysian border Su-ngai Kolok had been specifically alerted. For India, Tara will be an important catch as he is increasingly seen as being projected as the top leader of BKI by his Pakistan ISI handlers, replacing Wadhwa Singh with whom he has had a rift over the years. According to Indian security agencies, the ISI had always used Thailand as a terror hub, especially to channel FICN. In July, three Pakistani nationals were arrested near the Pakistan embassy in Bangkok with FICN worth INR 150000. | |||||||||
| 17-Sep-2014 | Lahore-based BKI militant outfit's de facto ‘chief’ Ratandeep Singh, who had only last year replaced ailing Wadhwa Singh as the BKI head and was sent by ISI, was arrested by Punjab Police. He was sent to India as Hussain Sheikh Zahid (son of Sheikh Nasiruddin) and was arrested by the SSOC team of Punjab Police near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. He was sent to 10-day Police remand by an Amritsar court. | |||||||||
| 05-Jun-2014 | A note of IB revealed how ISI coroneted banned KTF 'chief' Jagtar Singh Tara as the new 'chief' of the global Khalistan movement to "renew aggression". The note, dated September 30, 2013, said that ISI has announced a parting of ways with KTF and another banned militant outfit BKI. The IB note also revealed that Tara has made his new residence at a place near the revered Sikh shrine Nankana Sahib. | |||||||||
| 04-Jun-2014 | Agencies have received fresh inputs about Jagtar Singh Tara of KTF and Lakhvir Singh Rode of ISYF coming together to smuggle in explosives from across the border and provide logistics to target BJP leaders. The agencies have also received fresh information about two groups of 10-15 militants belonging to the KCF planning attacks on PM Narendra Modi and other top leaders of the RSS and BJP. A meeting to target Modi was held recently in Islamabad which was attended by Dr. Khalid Rashid and Mohammad Ghalib from the UK, Azmat Khan from JKLF and Wadhwa Singh of BKI. | |||||||||
| 15-Mar-2014 | The Delhi Police in its charge sheet filed against alleged LeT operative Abdul Karim Tunda said that a nexus has been surfaced between Dawood Ibrahim and banned militant groups like LeT, IM and Babbar Khalsa International. | |||||||||
| 16-Feb-2014 | The UK in its consolidated list of organizations involved in terror activities or terror financing brought out on February 14, 2014, has named ISYF, HM, Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Zindabad as organizations that require total financial sanctions. | |||||||||
| 04-Feb-2014 | A joint note prepared by UMHA and Punjab Police has revealed that over 30 Khalistani militants are staying in the UK. The note, dated September 30, 2013, said that Jagtar Singh Tara, whose terror group KTF had claimed responsibility for RDX explosives recovered from a car in Ambala in October 2011, that was meant to target 1984 riot-tainted Sajjan Kumar, is the new face of Sikh extremists. "There has been a cleavage and parting of ways between BKI chief Wadhwa Singh and Jagtar Singh Tara, who is heading KTF. In the UK and also in countries like Germany, the BKI sympathizers and supporters have started gravitating towards Tara at the cost of Wadhwa Singh," the note added. The note points out those Khalistan sympathizers, with the support of ISI, are frequently visiting Pakistan to meet Tara, who has based himself near Nankana Sahib Gurdwara and BKI chief Wadhwa Singh is now losing his sway in Europe and the UK. | |||||||||
| 26-Aug-2013 | After the confession of arrested LeT operative, Abdul Karim Tunda about BKI planning terror strikes in India, Punjab police is set to place an order for 3,350 AK-47 assault rifles. "However, we felt that the requirement is not for the sophisticated weapons anymore but for the power that simply shoots the target dead with sheer raw power…We have now gone back to the original plan of 1990s when there only AK-47s" an official said. | |||||||||
| 21-Aug-2013 | Punjab Police questioned LeT operative Abdul Karim Tunda over his links with top leaders of Sikh separatist outfit BKI and his role on December 31, 2009 case relating to recovery of 10kg of RDX in Amritsar. Police also said Tunda had met top BKI militants Ratandeep and Wadhwa Singh Babbar on several occasions and his network was constantly used to carry out BKI operations. | |||||||||
| 19-Jul-2013 | The Supreme Court sought a response from the CBI on a petition moved by Babbar Khalsa militant Jagtar Singh Hawara, the mastermind in the killing of Punjab CM Beant Singh on August 31, 1995, challenging his conviction and life imprisonment. A bench comprising justices B.S. Chauhan and S.A. Bobde issued a notice to the agency on the appeal filed by Hawara against the October 12, 2010 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court had commuted the death penalty of Hawara and sentenced him to life imprisonment till death. However, the CBI on December 5, 2011, had moved the apex court seeking the death penalty for him saying the offense falls under the category of 'rarest of rare' cases. | |||||||||
| 27-Jun-2013 | An Indian national, identified as Satpal Singh alias Raghvir Singh believed to be part of BKI has been deported to India from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Singh was arrested on January 4, 2013. Special Task Force (Operations and Counter-Terrorism) Director Comm Datuk Mohamad Fuzi Harun said that they believe he is part of a Sikh militant group called BKI. He had been supplying the group with fake travel documents and using our country as a transit point for the group's activities. | |||||||||
| 15-Apr-2013 | Two operatives of BKI had transferred money amounting to INR 22 million to the kin of Balwant Singh Rajoana for the revival of terrorism in Punjab. Pakistan based BKI leaders Wadhwa Singh and Jagtar Singh Tara are trying to revive terrorism in Punjab and wage war against the Government of India. A UK based BKI operative, Balbir Singh Bains had sent INR 10.1 million through Western Union to Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur between March 21 and April 3, 2012, according to NIA. INR 5.4 million was transferred into Kaur's ICICI Bank account (number 151501500897) between December 17, 2011, and March 31, 2012. There was another remittance to Rajoana's sister between September 2012 and April 2013, bringing the total to INR 22 million. | |||||||||
| 07-Apr-2013 | An un-named senior official of MHA stated, "Operatives based in the UK, Germany and North America, who are members of the BKI and its front organisations, are transferring huge amounts of monetary resources to BKI sleeper cells in Punjab and other places". Besides the ISI of Pakistan, it has close ties with the terror network of Dawood Ibrahim. | |||||||||
| 12-Mar-2013 | The Minister of State for Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh revealed in Lok Sabha that banned terrorist outfits like Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) are trying to revive Sikh militancy. He commented, "There are reports that some organisations like BKI in the UK are striving to revive Sikh militancy”. He added, "A close watch is maintained on the activities of various groups known to have been engaged in trying to foment terrorist activities in Punjab”. | |||||||||
| 25-Feb-2013 | In connection with September 7, 2011, Delhi High Court Blast a three-member NIA team conducted several raids at undisclosed locations in Jalandhar of Jalandhar District for three days till February 24. The team, landed in Jalandhar on February 21, following leads on militants of banned militant group BKI hiding in the District. Sources in Punjab Police said that attempts are being made by Pakistan-based terror outfit LeT to reignite terrorism in Punjab and carry out bomb explosions with the help of Sikh militants based abroad. "The Babbar Khalsa top leadership, including ‘chief’ Wadhwa Singh and its cadres are active in Pakistan and a few European countries. They are actively cooperating with ISI and LeT. | |||||||||
| 06-Feb-2013 | Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Berry sentenced BKI militant Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh, to 10-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) and a fine of INR 10,000 in a case of recovery of explosives. | |||||||||
| 17-Jan-2013 | In an official meeting between India and US delegations on the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, India has formally asked US Justice Department for the extradition of BKI militant Balwinder Singh Possi. He was wanted in twin blasts at interstate roadways bus stand Jalandhar, Punjab on April 24, 2006. Punjab Police is also planning to file for the extradition of another BKI militant Gurnam Singh alias Neka from the US. Neka is wanted for the two blasts which were carried out on April 24 and 28, 2006, in which three persons were killed. Punjab Police is also investigating the involvement of a third BKI militant Gursharan Singh Cheema in the blasts. Both the accused fled to the US in 2006 shortly after the blasts. | |||||||||
| 13-Jan-2013 | It was reported that a new alliance has been made between JeM and Babbar Khalsa at Rahim Yar Khan District of Punjab Province in Pakistan. | |||||||||
| 27-Nov-2012 | Union Minister of State for Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh replied to a question in Lok Sabha that various militant groups including LeT, IM, JeM, HuM, Al-Umma, Al Badr, HuJI, HM, BKI, KZF, and KTF are engaged in militant activities in the country and as per available information militants in India are often supported by their parent outfits based abroad particularly in Pakistan. | |||||||||
| 08-Oct-2012 | BKI still has a large network of sleeper cells across Punjab, confirmed by the NIA sources. BKI’s Leaders Wadhwa Singh and Mehal Singh were making efforts to revive militancy in Punjab. Both Wadhwa Singh and Mehal Singh were believed to be in Pakistan recently, are also learnt to have made some trips to Germany, where too the BKI is said to have a large network of sympathisers, in order to raise funds for the organisation. Intelligence officials have told the NIA that in Pakistan Wadhwa Singh and Mehal Singh had regular meetings with top ISI officials, who have pledged full support to them. | |||||||||
| 06-Oct-2012 | Scotland Yard released nine persons on bail in London who were arrested in connection with the attack on Lieutenant General (retired) Kuldeep Singh Brar. Three men will remain in custody. An extensive fundraising campaign is being undertaken by secessionist Sikh groups in Europe and North America at the instance of Pakistan's ISI to revive terrorism in Punjab. Sources in security agencies have informed about the movement of banned BKI, KCF, ISYF terror groups in western countries to radicalize Sikh youth by showing them doctored footage of Operation Blue Star and other propaganda materials. NIA sources confirmed that BKI still has a large network of sleeper cells across Punjab. | |||||||||
| 05-Oct-2012 | An attack in London, on Lieutenant General K.S. Brar, who commanded Operation Blue Star, has prompted the NIA to take a closer look at the pro-Khalistan activism and fund-raising by radical Sikh organizations supposedly working for the welfare of incarcerated Sikh militants, as well as cyber sites openly promoting the Khalistan cause. At least two such organizations, the Sikh Organization for Prisoner Welfare (SOPW) and Punjabi e-paper 'Rozana Spokesman' have come under NIA, which is probing cases involving "active" remnants of Sikh militant groups such as BKI. The NIA suspects a possible attempt by certain foreign-based pro-Khalistan leaders and Pakistan's ISI to revive militancy in Punjab and is probing possible sources of terror financing for the project. | |||||||||
| 30-Sep-2012 | British national Jaswant Singh Ajad, actively working for banned militant organizations BKI, KZF, and KTF was arrested from the Focal Point area of Jalandhar District. An Italian made 9 mm pistol and two magazines having 15 rounds were recovered from him. He has a strong relationship with the banned militant organization BKI led by Wadhwa Singh Babbar, KZF led by Ranjit Singh Neeta, KTF led by Jagtar Singh and Parpinder Singh of Scotland and others. Ajad was financing the militant modules to reunite them, he was also managing the sleeper cells of militants by providing them money, networking, and hideouts. A case under sections 120-B, 121, 121-A IPC, 25 Arms Act 10, 13, 17, 18-B, 20, 38, 39, 40 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 has been registered against him. | |||||||||
| 24-Sep-2012 | The FIR registered against Panch Pardhani leader and former militant Daljit Singh Bittu names three others believed to be in Pakistan those booked by Police are Wadhawa Singh, ‘chief’ of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Ranjit Singh Neeta of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and Jagtar Singh Tara of the Khalistan Tigers Force. Daljit Singh Bittu was arrested by the Police on September 21, 2012, and has been booked under the Arms Act, Explosives Act and for anti-national activities. The police had raided his residence and office and also confiscated the laptop and computer found there. Bittu has also been accused of threatening witnesses of the 2007 Shingar cinema blasts, which killed six people and injured thirty. The FIR says Bittu and three other militants were planning to revive terrorism in Punjab. Bittu has been accused of promising to provide a hiding place for the men. Meanwhile, police are reportedly trying to piece together the funding trail. Police revealed that they know where this money is coming but for courts, we need concrete proof. Moreover, need to check whether this money is or will be used to spread violence in the state. | |||||||||
| 06-Sep-2012 | Nehchal Sandhu, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Cheif, stated that militants focusing on Punjab and neighbouring states posed a challenge. Intelligence Inputs revealed that Pakistan based BKI Chief Wadhwa Singh Babber’s group and other militancy groups like KCF and KZF are making efforts to destabilize Punjab. Fresh inputs also indicate that Jagtar Tara, one of the three assassins of late Punjab CM Beant Singh, who is absconding following his escape from a Chandigarh jail in 2004, was playing an active role in trying to revive militancy. | |||||||||
| 03-Sep-2012 | Investigation revealed that the terror outfit, BKI has active support from ISI. It received more than INR 800 million in the last four years to fund its militants. The probe has also revealed that a joint committee is in place to coordinate the activities of major militant organizations in which Gurdial Singh Lalli of ISYF, Resham Singh of BKI and Harmeet Singh of Komagata Maru Dal of Khalistan are the prominent leaders. NIA has initiated a probe into the funding of BKI and is soon going to register a case against it and foreign NGOs under the UAPA and the IPC. According to the investigators, there are other NGOs based in Canada, UK, and Germany who have donated money to BKI’s cause for revival of the Khalistan movement. The agency has found that a chunk of money came via hawala (illegal money transfer), legal bank transfers and human courier. | |||||||||
| 01-Sep-2012 | The Mohali Police arrested a BKI militant, Kulwant Singh alias Guddu, who was arrested from Sahora village, near Kharar in Mohali District. A .315-bore double-barrel pistol, 11 live cartridges, some letter pads of BKI and some other objectionable material has been seized from his possession. He planned a major extremist operation in Punjab during the forthcoming festival season. Guddu was trying to recruit members in a bid to revitalize BKI. He was liaising with senior BKI militants abroad to revive the outfit. He planned to murder someone but Police did not divulge further details. Punjab Police are now trying to identify the people Kulwant was working with. | |||||||||
| 24-Aug-2012 | Following information about a tunnel being dug at the jail by people belonging to BKI, a search operation was carried out in Nabha Jail in Patiala District. DIG mentioned that information about some illegal activities like selling drugs, misusing mobile phones were taking place inside the jail. And some equipment used for digging, opium, 12 SIM cards, some mobile phones, broken SIM cards, and cash recovered. A case has been registered in this regard and investigation will take place. Police will obtain the GPRS and the CDR data to know the details of the mobile phones being used inside the jail premises. | |||||||||
| 13-Jul-2012 | Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said that the threat of terrorism remains in Punjab and also expressed confidence about the government's ability to tackle any attempt to thwart peace in the border state. He commented, ''Punjab is by no means free of all terrorism-related activities. We are keeping a watch. We have inputs that some individuals and groups are busy trying to revive terrorism in Punjab. Nine arrests were made in 2011 and 47 in 2010. Besides 5kg of RDX was recovered from near Ambala and two activists of BKI were arrested from Delhi”. | |||||||||
| 04-Apr-2012 | The BKI militant, Baljinder Singh, who had jumped off a moving train in front of the snoring cops on March 30, while being brought to Bhatinda (Punjab) for a court hearing, has 47 criminal cases, including of murder and robbery pending against him. Most of the criminal cases registered against him are in Punjab and the rest in Haryana and Delhi. | |||||||||
| 03-Apr-2012 | An under-trial prisoner of BKI managed to escape while he was on his way for a court hearing in Bhatinda in Punjab. The prisoner, Baljinder Singh, had been lodged in Tihar Jail and was on his way to Bhatinda in the custody of Delhi Police officials. | |||||||||
| 28-Mar-2012 | Union Government stayed hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a BKI terrorist facing a death sentence for the assassination of then Punjab CM Beant Singh on August 31, 1995. The hanging, scheduled to be carried out on March 31, has been stayed following a petition filed by SGPC, the Sikh religious body. | |||||||||
| 23-Mar-2012 | According to Police, Narender Singh, a BKI militant who was arrested from IGI airport at New Delhi on March 19, wanted to target religious figures like Baba Ram Rahim and Baba Ashutosh. The Delhi police officials also said that the said militant had got the training in Pakistan. | |||||||||
| 19-Mar-2012 | A BKI militant, identified as Narender Singh alias Raju was arrested from the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi. Sources said that Narender Singh was on his way to Germany to meet BKI 'chief' Harvinder Singh to organise terror activities in India. | |||||||||
| 19-Jan-2012 | One group of BKI may have sneaked into the country from across the border to target political and religious leaders in the poll-bound state of Punjab as per top intelligence sources. The prime targets in the hit list of these terrorists are said to be Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and religious Dera leaders like Ashutosh, according to sources. The MHA is will issue a fresh advisory to the Punjab Government to beef up the security of the top political and religious leaders during campaigning. The elections are due in the State on 30th January. | |||||||||
| 05-Jan-2012 | A local court acquitted five persons, including four former activists of Babbar Khalsa, in a case related to unlawful activities, illegal possession of explosives and firearms. The acquitted Babbar Khalsa activists were identified as Baljit Singh Bhau, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, Buta Singh, Balwinder Singh Dekwala. Daljit Singh Bittu, president of Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani), was also acquitted. However, the court found one person, Harminder Singh Cherian, guilty and sentenced him to three years imprisonment and also imposed a fine of INR 5000 on him. A case was registered on November 15, 2009, against seven persons under the Unlawful Activities Act, Arms Act, Explosives Act and various sections of the IPC and they were arrested. Apart from the four Babbar Khalsa activists, Daljit and Harminder, Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Daya Singh Lahoria had also been arrested in the connection. However, Lahoria was acquitted by a court a few months back. | |||||||||
| 30-Dec-2011 | Government asked states bordering Pakistan to step up vigil following inputs that militants from across the border may strike in India, specifically in poll-bound Punjab. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "What we gathered, we review every day... We alert the states who are targets... Apart from the jehadi groups, there is BKI (Babar Khalsa International) and some other Khalistani groups. We did bust a BKI module a few days ago. So, we have to remain on high alert in Punjab. We are working with the Government of Punjab and we will continue to remain high alert," he added. Asked whether there was a revival of the Khalistan movement in Punjab, he said, "There is no revival. These are remnant elements from old groups. Many of them have fled the country; many of them have taken refuge in foreign countries. These are remnant groups. There is no revival of the Khalistan movement". | |||||||||
| 25-Dec-2011 | The security of VVIPs in Punjab is being reviewed in the wake of the revelations made by BKI militants arrested by Delhi Police on December 22. Delhi Police claimed that that the module had been tasked by BKI chief Wadhwa Singh and an operative Kulbir Singh to assassinate three religious leaders in Punjab and Haryana and some political leaders in Punjab during the upcoming Assembly elections. According to the Police, the BKI is on an overdrive to recruit cadre. | |||||||||
| 22-Dec-2011 | Two suspected BKI militants were sent to 10 days in Police custody. They were arrested by the Delhi police based on leads that they planned to assassinate some religious and political leaders. Sarabjeet Singh was arrested in the Shalimar Bagh area of Delhi on December 22 by Delhi Police. Police reportedly seized a firearm, two magazines containing 15 live cartridges, five mobile phones, a cordless phone, three driving licenses purportedly issued in Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, two PAN cards and a laptop, besides two pen drives, from the accused. | |||||||||
| 16-Oct-2011 | Recent intelligence reports cautioned the Punjab Government about renewed efforts by the Pakistani spy agency, ISI and Pakistan-based militant outfits, including BKI, to send a consignment of arms, explosives, fake currency, and drugs for spreading terror-incidents and drug menace in the state and disrupting its economy. | |||||||||
| 08-Sep-2011 | Investigators were also taking a closer look at a few intelligence inputs over recent months that hinted at efforts by Khalistani extremist groups to target the national capital. Sources said inputs spoke about militant Sikh outfits BKI and KZF trying to revive in India and carry out attacks. | |||||||||
| 13-Mar-2011 | Khalistani militant Jagtar Singh Tara, who was involved in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, is reportedly planning to launch his outfit, Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) breaking away from the parent outfit BKI. | |||||||||
| 29-Jan-2011 | Former Deputy Speaker of Punjab, Bir Devinder Singh, reportedly received a threatening email from militant outfit BKI. The email dispatched by BKI area commander Nishan Singh claimed that a meeting of BKI ‘area commanders’ was held some days ago, where they decided to recruit 1,000 unemployed youngsters from Punjab for the establishment of Khalistan in Punjab. BKI threatened to chastise the former Deputy Speaker for creating obstacles for them. | |||||||||
| 08-Dec-2010 | The Central Government said that militant groups, especially those based abroad, were trying to revive militancy in Punjab. “Available reports suggest that militant groups, especially those based abroad, continue to persist with their efforts to revive militancy in Punjab," Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken said in a written reply. The Minister, however, added that no specific inputs were indicating the development of any nexus between Khalistani outfits like BKI or KZF and militant Islamist organizations like LeT. | |||||||||
| 11-Nov-2010 | BKI terrorist, Makhan Singh, who was jointly arrested by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Khanna (Punjab) Police on October 23, 2010, from UP was handed over to the Hoshiarpur Police in connection with the killing of Sant Pardhan Singh. During interrogation, Makhan Singh had confessed to the killing of Sant Pardhan Singh with one of his accomplices Karanvir Singh alias Bablu, resident of Daroli, Adampur, who was arrested on October 18 from Qila Barun (ChhotaBajwara) and later fled from the CIA staff custody. | |||||||||
| 23-Oct-2010 | The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) arrested a BKI terrorist, identified as Makkhan Singh, from Barhni area of Sidharthnagar District on the Indo-Nepal border. ATS personnel also recovered one mobile phone along with Indian and foreign currencies from the accused. Makkhan was arrested when he was going to Punjab to acquire a fresh passport to leave India. | |||||||||
| 18-Oct-2010 | An alleged BKI operative Karanbir Singh escaped from Police custody under the pretext of going to the toilet. The incident occurred in Hoshiarpur District when Police personnel and officers were interrogating Karanbir, who was booked for the murder of the head of a religious sect in June 2010. He escaped through a window. A reward of INR 5 lakh has been announced. | |||||||||
| 17-Oct-2010 | A BKI operative,Karanbir was arrested along with an AK-47, an AK-56 assault rifle, two hand grenades, 5.4 kilograms of RDX, six magazines, 276 rounds of ammunition, two detonators, a timer device, and one remote control from Punjab. | |||||||||
| 10-Oct-2010 | A cadre of the KZF, who is also associated with the BKI, was arrested by Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The arrestee, identified as Gurjant Singh, was a native of Kurukshetra District in Haryana. An Italian pistol and some documents were seized from him. Gurjant reportedly acted as a link between KZF and BKI. | |||||||||
| 25-Aug-2010 | The Intelligence Bureau (IB) warned that "inimical agencies" operating from "international bases" were trying to revive militancy in Punjab by allying with Khalistani outfits and the LeT. Calling attempts to revive Sikh militancy a worrisome trend, IB Chief Rajiv Mathur said, "There have been clear attempts by inimical agencies abroad to reactivate Sikh terrorist elements, forge nexus between LeT and terrorist groups like BKI and KZF and mobilize their resources for planning terrorist violence in Punjab and elsewhere in the country." | |||||||||
| 28-Jul-2010 | The Punjab Police arrested five BKI militants with two AK-47 rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition and explosives. Pal Singh of Dhandowal village in Jalandhar, Kulwant Singh of Varpal village, Gurmukh Singh alias Gana of Pandori Mehma, Jagtar Singh of Thoba village in Amritsar and Darshan Singh Dhadi of Dhaliwal in Jalandhar were arrested with two AK-47 rifles, five magazines and 420 live rounds, including 200 armored piercing cartridges, Superintendent of Police (SP) P. Mandeep Singh said. | |||||||||
| 18-Jul-2010 | Punjab Police said that it had arrested four militants of the BKI and recovered weapons and explosives from them. The four include BKI commander Harmohinder Singh, who was the mastermind in the 2007 Ludhiana cinema blast. The other three were his accomplices and they were staying in rented accommodation here for the past few weeks. Police have recovered 3.1 kilograms of RDX, an AK-47 and a revolver from them. | |||||||||
| 30-Jun-2010 | A BKI militant, identified as Sher Singh was arrested from Amritsar District and one AK 47 rifle, three magazines, and 72 live cartridges were recovered from his possession. Singh had earlier spent around six years in jail for his involvement in various cases of bomb blasts in Delhi, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Kaithal (Haryana) and Chandigarh, and a jailbreak in Burail. | |||||||||
| 22-Jun-2010 | The State Special Operation Cell of Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police with the interrogation of arrested BKI militant Nishan Singh recovered one AK-47 assault rifle, 110 cartridges, one revolver 32 bore and three automatic Chinese pistols. Following Singh’s arrest, an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) team had visited his village, Daleke, in the Tarn Taran District and recovered a huge cache of imported arms hidden in the farms by Singh. The weapons were sent from Pakistan. | |||||||||
| 18-Jun-2010 | The Punjab Police arrested a BKI militant from Bhagowal village near Batala area in Gurdaspur District. He was identified as Jagtar Singh, a resident of Bhagowal village under Qilla Lal Singh Police Station. Jagtar Singh was sent to Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) Amritsar for investigations, Batala Police sources said | |||||||||
| 16-Jun-2010 | A suspected militant of the BKI, identified as Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha, was arrested along with 1.4 kilograms RDX, arms and ammunition, from the border of Khalkian and Rattangarh villages in Amritsar District. | |||||||||
| 14-Jun-2010 | Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that arrests show forces are alert even as the arrest of two more suspected terrorists belonging to the dreaded BKI on June 12 in Batala has caused concerns regarding the revival of militancy in the State and ruled out any “threat to peace in Punjab”. He said the arrests were a testimony to the fact that Security Forces were alert and they would thwart any attempt to disturb law and order | |||||||||
| 14-Jun-2010 | Five suspected militants of the BKI have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the Dera Bassi court. Earlier, these militants were in Police custody. According to information, militants sent to judicial remand include Balbeer Singh, alias Bhootna, Nirmal Singh, alias Nimma, Avtar Singh, Daljit, and Deepak. The accused had reportedly been involved in terrorist activities and arms and ammunition were also seized from their possession. | |||||||||
| 12-Jun-2010 | The Police arrested two suspected BKI militants, identified as Balwinder Singh alias Binda and Manjinder Singh alias Mannaand recovered a pistol and 10 live cartridges from their possession, from a fuel pump at Khanowal village under Kila Lal Singh Police Station in Gurdaspur District. The two arrested suspects had hidden arms and ammunition in a water cooler they were carrying, Police said. | |||||||||
| 08-May-2010 | A car with two kilograms of explosives was found abandoned near a busy Railway Station in Amritsar, Police said. Although so far, no particular terrorist outfit has taken the responsibility, Police believe this incident was part of the attempt of BKI and Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) elements to revive terrorism in Punjab. | |||||||||
| 17-Apr-2010 | A suspected BKI militant, identified as Avtar Singh, was arrested by Zirakpur Police from Materi village in Ambala on April 17. He was produced in the Derabassi court on April 18 from where he was sent in Police remand till April 22. He is said to be the brother of another BKI cadre Purshotam Singh, who is living in France. According to Police sources, Purshotam was regularly sending money to BKI cadres in India to sustain their criminal activities. | |||||||||
| 30-Mar-2010 | A special court sentenced BKI militant Paramjit Singh Bheora to life imprisonment, after convicting him of involvement in the 1995 assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. A fine of INR 65000 was also slapped on Bheora, who was on March 29 convicted of criminal conspiracy for his involvement in the assassination of Beant Singh by a suicide bomber, Dilawar Singh, August 31, 1995, at the high-security Punjab Civil Secretariat complex in Chandigarh. Jagtar Singh Hawara, an accomplice of Bheora, was earlier sentenced to death in 2007 in the same case | |||||||||
| 29-Mar-2010 | A BKI militant, identified as Piara Singh, a resident of Gattikatar village in Ferozepur, was arrested with 3.5 kilograms of RDX, which he had reportedly smuggled from Pakistan for supplying to BKI militants in Punjab. With the arrest of the explosive’s supplier to BKI, the Mohali District Police claimed to have foiled another bid of Pakistan’s ISI-backed BKI to revive militancy in Punjab, Delhi and across the country. | |||||||||
| 25-Mar-2010 | Three BKI militants, Waryam Singh alias Jasbir Singh alias Giani of Mohali District, Kulwant Singh of Mann Kheri District and Bhupinder Singhof Ropar District, were arrested at Rajpura of Patiala District. SSP R. S. Khatra said that they confessed that they were in constant touch with Italy-based BKI militant Jasvir Singh Jassi, who gave them the weapons to eliminate Baba Bhaniarwala to create unrest in the State. They were paid heavily by Jassi and were asked to step up militant activity in the State, Khatra said. | |||||||||
| 23-Mar-2010 | Five "Pakistan-made" hand grenades were seized from the Mohali District on March 23, following the arrest of BKI militants. The grenades were recovered from Siswan village in Mullanpur town, about 14 kilometers away from the Punjab Cricket Association stadium, where one of the Indian Premier League cricket match is scheduled to be held on March 24. Mohali's Superintendent of Police Varinderpal Singh said that the grenades were made in Pakistan and had an imprint of 'P-86' on them. | |||||||||
| 21-Mar-2010 | Two militants of BKI, arrested by Mohali Police, were produced in the court and remanded to two-day Police custody. | |||||||||
| 18-Mar-2010 | A joint Police team of the Punjab and Delhi Police neutralized a module of the BKI, an outfit backed by Pakistan's ISI, by arresting three militants from Punjab and Delhi. Two suspected BKI militants, identified as Daljit Kumar alias Deepak of Baltana from Mohali District and Purshotam Singh alias Bunty from Rajoura in Patiala District, were arrested at the Zirakpur-Patiala road near Zirakpur in an operation conducted by the Mohali Police and the Special Cell of Delhi Police in the night of March 18. The third militant of the outfit, identified as Karwinder Singh, a native of Ropar, was arrested in Delhi on March 19. | |||||||||
| 16-Mar-2010 | The BKI terrorists Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora were produced in a local court in Chandigarh for the ongoing trial of the Beant Singh assassination case. | |||||||||
| 07-Mar-2010 | Sikh militant outfits based abroad are trying to revive terrorism in Punjab and the Government is maintaining a close watch on such outfits, the UMHA said. "Available reports suggest that Sikh militant groups, especially those based abroad, continue to persist with their efforts to revive militancy in Punjab," Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken told the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament). "A close watch is maintained on the activities of various groups known to have been engaged in trying to foment terrorist activities in Punjab," he said. He also added that pro-Khalistan terrorist outfits namely BKI, ISYF, KCF and KZF continued to be banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2004 | |||||||||
| 29-Sep-2009 | Police arrested five BKI militants, including the son of a Police official, and claimed to have neutralized a terror module. Four militants were arrested on the night of September 29 from Bhogpur, 45 kilometers from Jalandhar and one was arrested on September 30 from Jalandhar. The arrestees were identified as Ranvir Singh alias Saabi (son of an ASI), Manjit Singh alias Jeeta, Amandeep Singh (all of the residents of Bhogpur) and Kuldeep Singh of Basti Bawa Khel locality and Dinesh Kumar. The arrested persons have been in touch with their Germany based head of BKI Harminder Singh alias Mintu, a close link of BKI terrorists residing in Pakistan for the past six months; the Police said adding that the accused were also in touch with Paramjit Singh Pamma, also based in Germany. | |||||||||
| 27-Aug-2009 | Police in Ludhiana, arrested a suspected militant, identified as Daljit Singh Bittu for allegedly plotting to kill Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Bittu, who was involved in the Khalistan movement of the 1980s, was arrested from his house following information provided by arrested terrorist Balbir Singh Bhutna, Police said. Bhutna, who is suspected of links with militant outfits KCF and BKI, was arrested at Ludhiana railway station on August 25 after an encounter in which one person was killed and two policemen were seriously injured. During the investigation, Bhutna had revealed that they had plans to kill the Punjab Chief Minister and his son, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of the State. Bittu is president of the Akali Dal (Amritsar- Panjpradhani), a party which he floated after his release from prison. Bittu was also associated with Simranjit Singh Mann's SAD (A) but had later formed his party - SAD (Panch Pardhani). | |||||||||
| 26-May-2009 | Another Khalistani militant outfit, the BKI, which also figures on the US’s list of terrorist organizations, has condemned the killing of Sant Rama Nand in Vienna. London-based Akash Radio Website claimed that the BKI chief Wadhwa Singh Babbar said in an e-mail that the entire Sikh Panth regretted the attack on Sant Niranjan Das and Sant Rama Nand. The e-mail said: "Everyone knows that this attack was not done by the Sikh Panth. Indian agencies are behind this attack, and they are trying to split the Ravidasiya community from the Sikh Panth. The Khalsa Panth will continue to cherish this relationship formed since the times of Guru Nanak Devji… The Khalsa Panth requests the Ravidasiya community to maintain peace. The Khalsa Panth will always stand by the Ravidasiya community and will not let the Indian agencies succeed in their mal-intensions." | |||||||||
| 20-Apr-2009 | Intelligence agencies have recently ascertained that a joint meeting between militants of the LeT, JeM and the BKI chief Wadhwa Singh was held in Rawalpindi in Pakistan during February 2009, where they planned terrorist attacks in Punjab during the Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in the fourth and fifth phases on May 7 and May 13. Sources in the agencies said the Pakistan-based terrorist outfits had planned to take the help of local BKI cadres for logistical support. | |||||||||
| 23-Oct-2008 | Two BKI cadres, identified as Paramjit Singh and Kamaljit Singh, were convicted and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment by a special court for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, in Chandigarh. The duo, described as human bombs in the Police charge sheet, had reportedly had planned to revive terrorism and had been trained by BKI head, Jagtar Singh Hawara. | |||||||||
| 20-Mar-2008 | The Delhi Police claimed to have arrested two BKI militants, identified as Jaswant Singh alias Kala and Surender Singh alias Fauji from near the Sutlej bridge in Jalandhar in Punjab, in a follow-up to the December 31, 2007-arrest of four BKI militants. One.30 Star make pistol and one .22 Star made pistol with 11 live cartridges were recovered from them. | |||||||||
| 11-Mar-2008 | According to Intelligence sources, Pakistan’s ISI is making serious attempts to revive Sikh militancy in India by coordinating and establishing linkages among various terrorist outfits with the Sikh extremist leaders. The ISI activities to this extent have been planned from countries like the US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Norway, and Belgium, besides Pakistan in the absence of ground support in India. The various terror groups have established nexus among themselves in terms of financial and logistical support, sharing of information and tactical planning. An intelligence input indicated that representatives of BKI, ISYF and LeT met in Berlin on June 2007 and decided that financial support would be extended to the LeT and logistical support to the BKI to carry out terrorist actions in India. Another input indicated that Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) had got in touch with a UK-based organization, Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination (PNSD) for modelling their ‘position paper’ on the pattern of the ‘Sikh Position Paper’. | |||||||||
| 13-Feb-2008 | The BKI militants, arrested in connection with the bomb blast at a cinema hall in Ludhiana in Punjab on October 14, 2007, have told the investigators that they had approached the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) for the supply of arms and ammunition. During their interrogation, the militants also told that few Sikh youths had been tasked to kill political leaders including Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir, President of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front M. S. Bitta and former State Director General of Police K P. S. Gill. These youths were being trained by Pakistan's external intelligence agency, the ISI, in the handling of arms and ammunition including fabricating of improvised explosive devices. | |||||||||
| 16-Jan-2008 | The police in Ludhiana arrested Mohammed Ali alias Alia for allegedly supplying RDX to the proscribed BKI militants to disrupt Punjab. | |||||||||
| 10-Jan-2008 | The DGP in Punjab, N. P. S. Aulakh, said that Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the ISI, is behind the regrouping of Babbar Khalsa militant group in Punjab. He claimed that Babbar Khalsa engineered the Ludhiana bomb blast in October 2007 and had planned the elimination of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, Baba Bhaniarewala and certain other heads of religious sects operating in Punjab. The DGP further said that Babbar Khalsa operatives arrested by Ludhiana police have revealed that they got arms training in Pakistan. He said that the police has identified a new terrorist group in the name of the International Liberation Revolutionary Force (ILRF) working in the Malwa region and arrested all the six persons behind the formation of this outfit along with one AK 47 rifle and other weapons. | |||||||||
| 04-Jan-2008 | The Delhi Police claimed to have foiled an attempt to kill Baba Pyara Singh Paniharewala, a Ropar-based religious leader, with the arrest of four alleged BKI terrorists. On the hit list of the terrorists were four other prominent personalities of Punjab, the police said. Four pistols and 124 live cartridges were allegedly seized from their possession. | |||||||||
| 25-Dec-2007 | Three suspected Babar Khalsa militants were arrested from Bihar on the India-Nepal border for their alleged role in the October 2007 bomb blast in Ludhiana that claimed six lives. Two of the three were identified as Gurpreet Singh and Sandeep and were arrested while they were attempting to flee into Nepal, official sources said. | |||||||||
| 22-Dec-2007 | The BKI threatened to blow up vital installations and security establishments in the State. The BKI ‘regional commander (North East)’ Balwinder Singh in an e-mail statement sent to a local English daily stated, "By the end of this month (December), we are going to explode (blast) bombs in Shillong city to take revenge on Khasi Students’ Union for committing atrocities on Punjabis residing in Sweepers Colony (Punjabi Colony) in Lewduh in previous years and for India's oppression on us." | |||||||||
| 13-Dec-2007 | Punjab Police foiled an attempt by BKI terrorists to assassinate the Sirsa-based Sacha Sauda (a sect) chief, Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, and heads of two other sects. The Senior Superintendent of Police (Kapurthala), Rakesh Aggarwal, informed that three members of the BKI module, identified as Gurinder Singh, Zorawar Singh alias Zora and Parminder Singh alias Babloo, were arrested and two Improvised Explosive Devices assembled by using 9.75 kg high-quality RDX recovered. The police also seized 300 grams of RDX, two detonators, two timers, 40 cartridges of different bores, four boxes of other explosive material, two kg of copper wire and two mobile phones along with several other articles. Aggarwal disclosed that 12 other BKI gang members, including its kingpin Gurpreet Singh, were still at large. | |||||||||
| 31-Jul-2007 | The Additional District and Sessions Judge in Chandigarh awarded death sentence to Jagtar Singh Hawara of the BKI and Balwant Singh, two of the six declared guilty in the Beant Singh assassination case. Three other convicts, Gurmeet, Lakhwinder and Shamsher Singh, were awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in the criminal conspiracy, while the sixth convict, Naseeb Singh, was given 10 years of imprisonment under the Explosives Act along with a fine of INR 10,000. | |||||||||
| 11-Jun-2007 | Gurdip Singh Rana, a Babbar Khalsa militant was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment after being convicted under the Arms Act at Kurukshetra in the Haryana State. Wanted by the Punjab Police, Rana, who was hiding in the Sujra village of Kurukshetra district, was arrested on October 17, 2005. | |||||||||
| 06-Jun-2007 | Punjab Police is reported to have traced the main conspirators of the May 22, 2005-bomb blasts in New Delhi, alleged to be members of the pro-Khalistan outfit, BKI, in Germany. The police said it had moved an application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini in New Delhi for issuance of letters rogatory seeking information about the suspects from the German authorities, which was granted by the court. The letters rogatory seek information about Satnaam Singh, son-in-law of Babbar Khalsa chief Wadhwa Singh, his wife Sukhwinder Kaur and another woman identified as Kanwaljit Kaur. | |||||||||
| 02-May-2007 | Intelligence agencies said that the Pakistan-based LeT and the ISI, Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, are trying to revive militancy in the Indian State of Punjab through sympathizers of the Sikh militant groups like the BKI, the ISYF, KZF, and KCF. The information has been sent to the Punjab Police about the plans to target towns of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Pathankot region. Instructions have also been given to monitor the activities of sympathizers of BKI-Hawara, ISYF-Rode, KZF- Neeta, and KCF, who are sending funds through hawala to "re-launch their separatist movement". | |||||||||
| 02-Jul-2006 | BKI terrorist Bachan Singh Sogi, accused of plotting to assassinate the former Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir and former State DGP K.P.S. Gill was deported by Canada. Sogi was removed on July 2 from the Riviere des Prairies detention centre in north-end Montreal after Canada's Public Security Minister Stockwell Day rejected his plea challenging a court order. | |||||||||
| 21-Mar-2006 | Four BKI terrorists, identified as Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi alias Bullet, Dilbagh Singh, Ranjit Singh and Balbir Singh alias Nepaliwere arrested from Chandigarh in Punjab and one kilogram of RDX, arms, and ammunition were seized from their possession. Chandigarh Police arrested the four from the Bus Stand in Sector 12 of the city. During preliminary interrogation, the arrested persons disclosed that they were part of the BKI module controlled by Jagtar Singh Tara. | |||||||||
| 20-Mar-2006 | Paramjeet Singh Bheora, 'head of operations' of the BKI in India, and two of his accomplices, while planning to set up base in Delhi, were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police near G T Karnal road. Four kilograms of RDX, three detonators, one remote control device along with a wireless set, one-timer, three pistols, 39 live cartridges, and three fired cartridges are recovered from them. | |||||||||
| 19-Nov-2005 | Punjab Police arrested three Pakistan-trained terrorists of the BKI from the Jagroan district and foiled their plan of a major strike in crowded localities in Chandigarh and Delhi. Police seized 1.2 kilograms of RDX, one pencil bomb, 28 detonators, a timer, 55 AK-47 cartridges, 56 Mauser cartridges, and four .9 mm cartridges. The ammunition and RDX were smuggled from Pakistan through the Rajasthan border and the terrorists planned to detonate bombs in areas dominated by a particular community. | |||||||||
| 17-Oct-2005 | The Haryana Police is reported to have arrested a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, identified as Gurdip Singh, who assisted in the escape of the main accused in the Beant Singh assassination case, Jagtar Singh Hawara, and three of his accomplices from the Burail jail in January 2004. Gurdip Singh, a resident of Fatehgarh district in Punjab, was arrested from Sujra village of Kurukshetra district where he was living for the past three months on a fictitious identity. Police also seized a Chinese-made pistol and 14 live cartridges from his possession. | |||||||||
| 28-Jul-2005 | Two trans-border smugglers-turned- BKI cadres were arrested from Jammu for their alleged involvement in the May 22 twin cinema hall blasts in New Delhi. | |||||||||
| 19-Jul-2005 | Police in the Ropar district of Punjab arrested five accomplices of the BKI 'operations chief' Jagtar Singh Hawara in connection with the bomb blast near the house of Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara at Dhamana village in January 2005. | |||||||||
| 17-Jul-2005 | Police arrested three BKI terrorists near Madhopur Chowk in the Fatehgarh Sahib District of Punjab. One AK-47 rifle, 25 live cartridges, and some explosives are recovered from them. | |||||||||
| 16-Jul-2005 | Police arrested two BKI terrorists, suspected to be 'Human Bomb', from near Kinas Bhawan in Sector 35 of Chandigarh and recovered one 0.25 bore foreign-made pistol with ammunition, two detonators and a bag containing two human bomb belts with 450 grams of RDX, switches, wires, and battery. | |||||||||
| 15-Jul-2005 | Police arrested a BKI terrorist, identified as Gurdev Singh, from Chamkaur Sahib Rupnagar district for his alleged involvement in the May 22 blasts. | |||||||||
| 14-Jul-2005 | Two BKI terrorists were arrested by the Delhi Police from the Old Delhi in connection with the May 22 blasts at two cinema halls. The terrorists were identified as Dilbagh Singh, a close relative of the Pakistan-based BKI chief Wadhwa Singh, and Surender Singh Kanda, a Kenya-based non-resident Indian, who reportedly works as a visa agent. | |||||||||
| 05-Jul-2005 | The Delhi Police arrested three BKI terrorists, identified as Bishan Lal, Joginder, and Ajit Raj, from Jammu. They also recovered 2.5 kilograms of RDX and 10 detonators. The arrests have been made in connection with the twin cinema hall blasts in Delhi on May 22 in which one person was killed. Police said the three were in direct touch with Satnam Singh, the Germany-based mastermind of the blasts. The trio had allegedly supplied nine consignments, each comprising 10 kilograms RDX, one AK rifle and four pistols, since January 2004 for terrorist activities. | |||||||||
| 28-Jun-2005 | A BKI terrorist, Satnam Singh, was arrested at Majnu Ka Tila in North Delhi by the Delhi Police. A pistol and 15 live cartridges were recovered from him. Satnam, reportedly a ‘human bomb’, admits that he made two attempts to kill the former Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhajan Lal. | |||||||||
| 25-Jun-2005 | Police arrested a BKI terrorist who was going to be used as a 'human bomb' to assassinate Ashutosh Maharaj, the head of a religious sect (Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan), in the Amritsar district of Punjab. SSP in Majitha, Vibhu Raj, said that "The human bomb Tarsem Singh belongs to BKI and was going to assassinate Ashutosh Maharaj but we arrested him at village Butala." The SSP added, "Singh was arrested with sophisticated electronic devices found wrapped around his waist, besides hand-grenade, 550 live cartridges of AK-47, detonators and bottle bombs." | |||||||||
| 20-Jun-2005 | The chief of Punjab Police, S. S. Virk, reported that the Police has set up a Special Task Force in all 17 districts of the State to target the BKI network. Virk said that they have so far arrested 24 alleged BKI members, including four women identified as Hardip Kaur, Charanjit Kaur, Gurdeep Kaur and Balwinder Kaur (wife of the arrested BKI ‘operations chief’ Jagtar Singh Hawara), along with 35 kgs of RDX, nine pistols, 11 grenades, more than 40 gelatin sticks, and other explosives. | |||||||||
| 18-Jun-2005 | An activist of the BKI, Ashwani Dadwal alias Jangali, was arrested from the Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. One kg of RDX and two detonators were recovered from his possession. "Ashwani had visited Australia, Cyprus, and Thailand and was trained as a militant by ISI sleuths in Pakistan," said Loknath Angra, Senior Superintendent of Police in Hoshiarpur. | |||||||||
| 16-Jun-2005 | Punjab Police arrested two close associates of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the BKI 'operations chief', from Ropar district. Swarn Singh and Paramjit Singh alias Bhola were arrested along with 10 kg of RDX (found in half kg bricks, numbering 20), a detonating device switch, 10 PE3A gelatin sticks, two infusion sticks, nine ABCD timers, four highly sophisticated grenades, nine clap switches, one live bomb and two .25 mm Chinese made pistol. "So far, we have 256 hideouts listed in Ropar district alone, where 12 hardcore Khalistani supporters are residing, so you can imagine how they have developed their base among the people. Whatever explosives have been recovered so far, on that basis we cannot rule out that they wanted to disturb peace in the State," said S. P. Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police in Ropar. | |||||||||
| 12-Jun-2005 | Five persons, identified as Ajaib Singh, Charanjit Kaur, Amit Marwah, Balwinder Singh, and Sukhwinder Singh, were arrested by the Khanna Police for having links with Jagtar Singh Hawara, 'operations chief' in India of the BKI. SSP, Naunihal Singh, stated that “in separate raids,so far we have recovered 20 electrical detonators, 30 mechanical detonators, four batteries, nine belts, eight bomb connections, an ABCD timer, eight bomb coils along with a timer bomb with maximum limit adjustment of 72 hours and more than thousand live cartridges." | |||||||||
| 05-Jun-2005 | A joint team of the Delhi and Punjab Police arrested two BKI operatives, Bahadur Singh and Gurdip Singh alias Kaka from the Nawanshahar District of Punjab. DIG of Police (Jalandhar range), Paramjit Singh Gill, stated that both were associates of Jaspal, an accused in the May 22 cinema hall blasts in Delhi. Two slabs of RDX weighing one kilogram, 11 detonators and cordex wires were recovered from the arrested activists. | |||||||||
| 01-Jun-2005 | A day after police arrested BKI activists, Balvinder Singh and Jaganath Yadav, in connection with the blasts at the Liberty and Satyam cinema halls on May 22, the Delhi Police seized illegal arms and ammunition from a hideout of a BKI terrorist, who is still at large. The DP conducted a raid at the hideout of Jaspal Singh at Inderpuri and recovered 1 kg of RDX, a timer, detonator, a.303 rifle, 20 rounds of ammunition, a uniform of a Punjab Police head constable and several fake driving licenses. | |||||||||
| 31-May-2005 | According to media reports, the preliminary interrogation of the accused has revealed that the conspiracy behind the attack was hatched in Stuttgart, Germany. Balwinder has told police that instructions for the attack came from Stuttgart-based Satnam Singh, son-in-law of the BKI chief Wadhwa Singh Babbar, and was facilitated by Pakistan-based leaders of former Punjab terrorist outfits. These men arranged for the RDX used in the attack from Jammu. According to police, the blasts were carried out by four men. ''Two others have been identified as Vikas and Jaspal. We are hopeful that they will be arrested very soon,'' said Delhi Police chief KK Paul. | |||||||||
| 31-May-2005 | Two BKI terrorists were arrested in connection with the May 22-bomb blasts at two cinema halls in the national capital New Delhi. While Balwinder Singh was arrested from a village at Nawanshahar in the State of Punjab, the other accused, Jagannath, was arrested from Madipur in Delhi. Rupees 2.94 lakh in cash, 1 kg of RDX and 2 kg of gold was recovered from the latter’s house | |||||||||
| 22-May-2005 | Two explosions triggered by crude devices at two cinema halls in Delhi during the screening of the Hindi film Jo Bole So Nihal killed one person and injured at least 60 others. In the first incident at Liberty Cinema on the G. T. Karnal Road, the device reportedly exploded under a seat in the sixth row. The second bomb exploded at the toilet of Satyam Cinema in Patel Nagar. Later, Police found the involvement of BKI terrorists in the blasts. | 1 | 60 | |||||||
| 25-Jan-2005 | Punjab Police Chief A Siddiqui said, three BKI terrorists, Jagtar Singh Hawara, Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh Beora, who were facing trial for killing the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, along with a murder accused in another case and had escaped from the high-security Burail jail, have fled to Pakistan. | |||||||||
| 03-Jan-2005 | A BKI terrorist, Prem Pal Singh who was involved in an assassination attempt on a senior police official in Punjab and wanted by the FBI for various crimes in the US, was arrested by the Delhi Police. He was reportedly arrested at a passport office in Delhi when he was approaching agents to procure a US visa on its forged passport. A resident of Bassi Pathana in Fatehgarh Sahib, Prem Pal worked as a Government employee before joining the Punjab terrorist outfit, BKI, in 1985. In July 1985, he and his associates attempted to assassinate Punjab Police Additional Directorate of General (Vigilance), A P Pandey, in Ludhiana. | |||||||||
| 21-Sep-2004 | The Punjab Police re-arrested BKI terrorist Gursewak Singh alias Babla from a hospital in the Raikot area of Ludhiana district. Babla had escaped from police custody in the national capital Delhi on August 22 while being taken to be produced before a court in connection with a 1998 case relating to sedition and violation of the Explosives Act. | |||||||||
| 08-Sep-2004 | Tarn Taran district police station of Punjab recovered one AK-47 assault rifle from Didar Singh alias Dari, a BKI terrorist, who was arrested in connection with the murder of Baba Jagtar Singh, head of the Dera Akal. According to district police chief Gurkirpal Singh, two magazines and 30 cartridges were recovered from Didar, who is allegedly involved in nine cases of heinous crimes. | |||||||||
| 24-Aug-2004 | A BKI terrorist, identified as Gursewak Singh alias Babla, escaped from the Punjab Police custody at Bara Hindu Rao hospital in New Delhi while he was being taken for medical treatment. | |||||||||
| 17-Aug-2004 | According to the annual report of Union Home Ministry 2003-04, Pakistan continues to provide sanctuary to various Sikh militant groups and the ISI, Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, was exerting pressure on these outfits to revive terrorist activities in Punjab. The report indicated that Pakistan continues to provide sanctuary to leaders of important pro-Khalistan militant outfits like BKI headed by Wadhwa Singh, KCF led by Paramjit Singh Panjwar and ISYF led by Lakhbir Singh Rode. Militant groups like KZF led by Ranjit Singh alias "Neeta" and Dal Khalsa International led by Gajinder Singh also continued to receive sanctuary from Pakistani soil, the report said. | |||||||||
| 18-Jun-2001 | Police arrested a terrorist of the Babbar Khalsa from Dhingar village in Mansa District. The terrorist had been declared a proclaimed offender since 1992 under various sections of the Arms Act and the now-defunct TADA Act. | |||||||||
| 09-May-2001 | In a bid to revive terrorism in Punjab and provide financial assistance to undertrial terrorists, funds from abroad continue to flow into the country. This was revealed by Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha, the leader of Babbar Khalsa who was arrested on May 1, 2001. A senior police officer said that Sukha had received a sum of Rs one lakh through hawala transactions from Germany. This amount was sent by a German-based person known as 'Babaji' and another known as Piara Singh, both of whom are active fundraisers of the Babbar Khalsa. | |||||||||
| 02-May-2001 | Five Babbar Khalsa terrorists were arrested in Nabepur village, Gurdaspur District. A large number of sophisticated arms, including AKs and explosives, including RDX and PETN, was recovered from them. | |||||||||
| 19-Apr-2001 | The BKI has dissolved its UK wing following the ban imposed by the British Government on 21 different terrorist organizations, including the ISYF. It was dissolved by Avtar Singh Sanghera, vice-president, BKI. He, however, said the outfit had submitted a memorandum to Jack Straw, British Home Secretary, for lifting the ban. He alleged the ban was imposed at the behest of the Indian Government as both the organizations had wings all over the world. | |||||||||
| 04-Apr-2001 | Punjab Police sources said, a Kashmiri terrorist arrested earlier in Gurdaspur, on April 1, has confessed to links with a police officer and a local politician. The arrested terrorist, a former student of Jammu University, also disclosed that a hotel room in the Gurdaspur used as a control room by Pakistan’s ISI. As reported earlier, four Kashmiri terrorists associated with the BKI were arrested from Harchuwala in Gurdaspur, where they were planning an attack during the Ramnavami, a Hindu religious event, celebrations of April 2 in Batala town. | |||||||||
| 02-Apr-2001 | Police arrested four BKI terrorists along with three kilograms of RDX and some arms and ammunition from Harchowal village in the Batala District. | |||||||||
| 03-Jan-2001 | Intelligence sources indicate that an activist of the BKI reportedly being a ‘human bomb’ armed with RDX and plastic explosives, is present in Delhi and aims to create disturbance during the January 26, Republic Day celebrations. | |||||||||
| 07-Nov-2000 | Punjab Police arrested four persons, including two BKI activists, and recovered a large number of arms, ammunition, fake currency and heroin from them. The arrested persons are believed to be planning to perpetrate mass killings. | |||||||||
| 15-Oct-2000 | Delhi Police arrested four persons and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from a city market in Azadpur. Police said that the cache was smuggled into India from Pakistan through the Western border and was being routed through the capital for final delivery at Jalandhar in Punjab. It is suspected that this cache, which includes small and automatic guns, ammunition, explosives, and other equipment, was to be used by the Babbar Khalsa group. Police have attributed this to Pakistan's efforts to revive the dormant terrorist movement in Punjab by some Khalistani outfits. | |||||||||
| 31-Mar-2000 | According to Police and intelligence sources, efforts are on by some Khalistani militant outfits based in Pakistan, Germany the USA and Belgium to re-establish their contacts in India. The sources feel that the outfits, which include the Babbar Khalsa, the KCF and other militant outfits, are compelled to show some kind of activities in India to their sponsors, including the ISI of Pakistan, to sustain their funds and donations. | |||||||||
| 28-May-1990 | The militant outfits, AISSF, KCF, KLF and BKI criticized Rajdev Singh for accusing SS Mann of being a Congress(I) agent. | |||||||||
| 22-Jul-1989 | KLF, KCF and BKI present a gold medal to Hari Singh Nalwa. | |||||||||
| 25-May-1988 | Tarsem Singh of BKI claims crores of rupees sent by the ISYF World Sikh Organization and Council of Khalistan to Manochahal and Labh Singh to distribute among the families of killed youth and the November 1984 riots victims was used by them to purchase property in UP. |