KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
Around 20 months after the Amritsar police booked Pargat Singh (23) in a sedition case for his alleged links with outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) radical outfit, the NIA’s move to arrest him has brought the focus on 18 others named in the same 2018 sedition case. No police action was initiated against these 18 after the FIR was lodged in 2018. They are now believed to be on NIA’s radar after Pargat’s arrest, who is alleged to be the key recruiter of radical Sikh youths for SFJ.
While Punjab Police had booked 30 accused in original case, it had submitted challan only against 11 at an Amritsar court in March 2019, keeping 19 — including Pargat Singh and banned outfit Sikh For Justice’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannu — out of it.
However, NIA told Mohali court earlier this week that Pargat Singh was one of the key conspirators and recruiter of radical Sikh youth while working under the directions of handlers located abroad to further the activities of SFJ (Sikhs For Justice) which has already been declared an unlawful association.
Pargat Singh (23), a Sikh priest from village Tarmala in district Sri Muktsar Sahib, was produced before the NIA Special Court, Mohali on June 23 and was remanded to NIA custody till June 29.
His arrest also came months after Sikh for Justice was banned in India in July 2019.