Pak-based Khalistan terrorist behind Ludhiana court blast: NIA

New Delhi: Lakhbir Singh Rode, nephew of deceased militant chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and head of banned Khalistani outfit Worldwide Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), had deliberate the December 2021 Ludhiana courtroom advanced blast, through which suspected bomber Gagandeep Singh was killed and 6 folks injured, the Nationwide Investigation Company stated on Sunday.

Rode had conspired to hold out bomb blasts in varied locations in Punjab and used Pakistan-based smugglers to execute his plans, the anti-terror company stated.

Bhindranwale, chief of Damdami Taksal, was killed by the Indian military in June 1984 throughout Operation Blue Star.

The NIA filed a cost sheet earlier than a Mohali courtroom on Saturday, naming Gagandeep Singh, Surmukh Singh alias Sammu, Dilbagh Singh alias Baggo, Rajanpreet Singh and a Pakistani nationwide Zulfikar alias Pahalwan, who it stated have been a part of the conspiracy. The federal company has already filed a cost sheet towards Rode in March 2022.

“Throughout investigations, it has been revealed that Lakhbir Singh Rode, Pakistan primarily based ISYF terrorist handler, had deliberate to execute IED blasts at varied areas in Punjab. In an effort to execute his plans, he, in affiliation with Pakistan primarily based smugglers, recruited India primarily based operatives to smuggle IEDs and to hold out blasts to trigger most casualties and to strike terror among the many basic public,” the NIA stated in an announcement on Sunday.

As a part of the conspiracy “to hold out IED blasts in Punjab, Rode, with the assistance of Zulfikar, a Pakistan primarily based cross-border arms, explosives and narcotics smuggler, Harpreet Singh alias Comfortable Malaysia, Surmukh Singh, Dilbagh Singh and Rajanpreet Singh, shaped a terror gang to hold out blasts and smuggle weapons into India,” it stated.

Harpreet Singh was deported to India from Kuala Lumpur final month and has been taken into custody by the NIA.

“Rode used the smuggling channels of Pakistan primarily based smuggler Zulfikar and his associates Surmukh Singh and Harpreet Singh to ship the IED to Gagandeep Singh, who planted it in Ludhiana courtroom advanced and misplaced his life within the course of,” the NIA stated.

Rode, based on a counterterrorism official who declined to be named, operates from Lahore in shut affiliation with the Inter-Companies Intelligence, the Pakistani spy company. He has already been put in probably the most needed listing by the NIA and a reward of ₹5 lakh has been declared on him.

Rode has been often sending consignments of small and enormous firearms, heroin and explosives packed in lunch containers from throughout the border to Punjab to hold out blasts and goal political leaders, the company stated. He was additionally concerned in September 15 bomb explosion in Jalalabad city of Punjab’s Fazilka district, through which terrorist Binder Singh was killed.