KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 21-Aug-2025
The Khalra Mission Organisation on August 21 in Tarn Taran confirmed that Paramjit Kaur Khalra, wife of late human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, will not contest the Tarn Taran by-election on an Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) ticket. This comes after jailed Khalistani radical and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh’s father, Tarsem Singh, had earlier named her as the party’s preferred candidate, but the organisation unanimously decided against her candidature.
India 21-Aug-2025
Punjab Police on August 21 arrested a man, identified as Malkeet Singh and seized one hand grenade, a .30-bore Px5 pistol, and 10 live rounds from his possession from near Bachiwind village in Amritsar district. Police said he was in direct contact with UK-based gangster Dharma Sandhu, a close aide of Pakistan-based Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda. Acting on intelligence that Malkeet had collected a consignment of weapons and explosives near the International Border (IB) and was on his way to deliver it, the police intercepted him at Bachiwind T-point.
India 21-Aug-2025
Bibi Amrit Kaur Maloya, daughter of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh, on August 21, announced her candidacy as an independent for the upcoming Tarn Taran bypolls. She is also the sister of Punjab Member of Parliament (MP) Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, a Shiromani Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) leader from Faridkot.
India 21-Aug-2025
Giani Harpreet Singh, president of a breakaway Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) faction and former Akal Takht acting jathedar, on August 21, told Sikh bodies at a ‘Sanman Samagam’ in Phagwara, Kapurthala district, that Punjab and the Sikh Panth were facing a “grave crisis.”
India 21-Aug-2025
Chandigarh police on August 21 unearthed a cross-border narco smuggling racket and arrested six smugglers identified as Pooja, Sameer, Mohd Juned, Nihal Singh, Sahibjeet Singh, alias Sabhu and Amritpal Singh alias Gopi, and seized 654 grams of heroin worth about INR 1 crore and 112 grams of cocaine from their possession, in Chandigarh. Investigations revealed the racket’s links with Pakistan-based handler Zubair Rana of Lahore, who coordinated heroin drops via drones across the border, with Amritpal Singh emerging as the kingpin of the syndicate.
India 21-Aug-2025
On August 21, Punjab Police, on day 173 of its “Yudh Nashian Virudh” campaign, registered 51 first information reports (FIRs), arrested 70 drug smugglers and seized 5.9 kg of heroin, 5 kg of opium, 2135 intoxicant tablets/capsules and INR 51,300 from the possession of arrested drug smugglers, across Punjab. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 26,723 in 173 days.
India 21-Aug-2025
Police on August 21 arrested one individual, identified as Rachhpal Singh alias PK and seized 5.5 kg of heroin along with INR 50,000 drug money from his possession, in Zira in Ferozepur district.
India 21-Aug-2025
Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar) Special Task Force (STF) on August 21 arrested two shooters of the Rohit Godara gang identified as Yashpal and Nitin, after a brief encounter and seized two illegal pistols and nine bullet shells from their possession, in Sector 10 in Gurugram in Haryana. Police said the duo was planning to commit a major crime and already faced multiple criminal cases in Rewari and Gurugram districts.
Pakistan 22-Aug-2025
According to a Khalsa Vox report, Pakistan’s security agencies are allegedly planning to exploit the upcoming visit of Indian Sikh pilgrims to push anti-India narratives. At an inter-agency meeting in Lahore on August 2, proposals were discussed to display banners and hold seminars alleging discrimination against Sikhs in India. While the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) opposed politicising pilgrimages, security agencies reportedly plan to amplify such narratives on social media platforms.
India 22-Aug-2025
According to sources, Punjabi singer Mankirat Aulakh has recently received threat calls and WhatsApp messages from unidentified numbers, directed to his management team’s phone. Police officials stated that no formal complaint has been filed so far, though efforts are underway to verify the phone numbers. Aulakh has previously been the target of similar threats from gangsters.
United States 22-Aug-2025
The recent guilty pleas of two Ontario-based Punjabi truckers, Iqbal Singh Virk and Ranjit Singh Rowal, in the multi-million-dollar Ryan Wedding drug trafficking case in the United States (US) have reignited debate over Indian-origin involvement in organised crime. Arrested in August 2024 at the Blue Water Bridge crossing with 95 kilograms of cocaine and 20 kilograms of heroin, the duo admitted to being part of a smuggling network worth nearly 25 million US dollars. Their convictions underscore the reach of transnational cartels, though experts caution against generalising blame to entire communities amid rising anti-South Asian sentiment online.
India 22-Aug-2025
On August 22, Punjab Police, on day 174 of its “Yudh Nashian Virudh” campaign registered 55 first information reports (FIRs), arrested 87 drug smugglers and seized 509 grams of heroin, 1 kg of opium, 4930 intoxicant tablets/capsules and INR 57,520 from the possession of arrested drug smugglers, across Punjab. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 26,848 in 174 days.
India 22-Aug-2025
Barnala police on August 22 arrested four members of a group associated with Bambiha gang, identified as Satnam Singh alias Satti, Gurpreet alias Guri, Sarm Singh alias Rinku and Deepak Singh, and seized one Zigana pistol, one .30 bore pistols, two .32 bore pistols with live cartridges, along with a car from their possession, at a checkpoint at Khudi road, near Khudi Kalan village in Barnala district.
India 23-Aug-2025
On August 23, gangster Mayank Singh alias Sunil Meena was extradited from Azerbaijan and brought to Ranchi, Jharkhand, by a special team of the Jharkhand Anti-Terrorist Squad. Singh, who faces over 50 criminal cases across Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Punjab, is a close aide of gangster Aman Sahu and has links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. He was arrested in Datu, Azerbaijan, in October 2024 after being placed on Interpol’s Red Corner Notice and, despite fleeing abroad, continued to run extortion rackets and orchestrate targeted attacks.
India 23-Aug-2025
On August 23, Punjab Police, on day 175 of its “Yudh Nashian Virudh” campaign registered 95 first information reports (FIRs), arrested 134 drug smugglers and seized 2.9 kg of heroin, 9 kg of poppy husk, 963 intoxicant tablets/capsules and INR 12,420 from the possession of arrested drug smugglers across Punjab. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 27,039 in 175 days.
India 23-Aug-2025
On August 23, unidentified bike-borne assailants shot dead Kartik Baggan, who was facing multiple criminal cases, near Nagar Chowk in Ludhiana district. Police suspect the murder to be the outcome of gang rivalry, as Baggan was linked to the Puneet Bains gang.
India 23-Aug-2025
Delhi Police on August 23 averted a gang war by arresting three members of the Naveen Bali gang — identified as Anzar Alam, Ritik, and Rajesh Kumar — and seizing a pistol with 11 live cartridges and a country-made katta with three cartridges, from near Bawana in North West Delhi district. The trio was acting on the directions of jailed leader Naveen Bali, with the plot linked to the ongoing rivalry between the Naveen Bali and Rajesh Bawania gangs, and allegedly funded by gangster Himanshu Bhau from abroad.
India 23-Aug-2025
Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, On August 23 in Chandigarh, announced that the Amritsar Commissionerate Police cracked the pro-Khalistan graffiti case within 24 hours, arresting Jashanpreet Singh and a 17-year-old juvenile. The slogans, discovered at three locations in Amritsar on the intervening night of August 20–21, were painted on the directions of banned Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, relayed through foreign-based operative Shamsher Singh alias Shera Maan. Police registered three FIRs in the case, with Yadav reiterating the state government’s zero-tolerance policy towards anti-national activities.
India 23-Aug-2025
Chandigarh Police on August 23 arrested one smuggler, identified as Sourav and seized 18 grams of heroin from his possession, in Ferozepur in Ferozepur district. He was wanted in connection with a narcotics case registered on July 15, in which 238 grams of heroin, drug money, and a motorcycle were earlier recovered. Police said Sourav sourced heroin from Vishal, currently lodged in a Punjab jail, and are probing possible cross-border links.
India 23-Aug-2025
According to sources, more than a month after around 20 threatening emails were sent to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) warning of a blast at the Golden Temple, Amritsar police have yet to make a breakthrough. The emails, reportedly routed through the Dark Net and virtual private networks (VPNs), have made tracing their origin extremely difficult. Police had earlier arrested a man from Faridabad, but forensic analysis of his devices did not yield substantial leads. Meanwhile, similar threats have also been issued to the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, keeping security agencies on high alert.