Mohali (Punjab): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against eight people in connection with the attempt to murder of Shiv Sena leader Amit Arora. All of them allegedly belong to Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terror group.
The charge sheet was filed in the Special NIA Court here.
“During investigation, it was found that the attempt on the life of Amit Arora was part of a trans-national conspiracy hatched by senior leadership of the KLF. Eight incidents of Targeted Killings/Attempted Killings were executed as part of this plan between January, 2016 and October, 2017 in Punjab. All the persons targeted belonged to certain specific communities and organizations. The objective of the conspiracy was to destabilize the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state,” NIA stated.
Arora was attacked on February 3, 2016 when he was sitting in his car parked at a locality in Ludhiana, Punjab.
Among the eight accused are Hardeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Dharminder Singh, Anil Kumar, Jagtar Singh Johal, Harmeet Singh (suspected to be in Pakistan), Gurjinder Singh (suspected to be in Italy) and Gursharanbir Singh (suspected to be in UK).
They have been charged under Sections 120-B, 307 of the Indian Penal Code; Sections 16, 17, 18, 18A, 18B, 20, 21 and 23 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 as amended and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, 1959.
NIA stated that during the investigation it was found that the “conspiracy had its foot-prints in several countries including, Pakistan, UK, Australia, France, Italy and the UAE.”
“As part of the conspiracy, substantial amounts of funds were supplied through Italy, Australia and the UK to the perpetrators of the Killings/Attempted Killings, viz. Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh. These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings and other logistics,” the statement read.
“The conspiracy included recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy, Dubai and UAE. Accused Hardeep Singh is the permanent resident of Italy while accused Ramandeep Singh belongs to Ludhiana. Both these persons were trained by one Gursharanbir Singh, a UK national. Another UK national, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been arrested in the case was involved in the funding of the conspiracy. Day to day co-ordination of the conspiracy was done by Pakistan based Harmeet Singh. The charge-sheet is based on the evidence collected from Oral, documentary, material and electronic sources. Besides, further evidence is being collected from several other countries,” the statement added.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]