NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday chargesheeted an Indian-origin
UK national
for allegedly playing a key role in last year’s
violent protests
at the
Indian High Commission
in London.
The protests were allegedly organised to express solidarity with the chief of pro-Khalistan outfit
Waaris Punjab De
Amritpal Singh after the Punjab police launched a manhunt against him.
Inderpal Singh Gaba, a UK national residing in Hounslow and originally hailing from New Delhi, was one of the agitators who had participated actively in the anti-India protest on March 22, 2023, in front of Indian High Commission, London, “as part of the Khalistani secessionist agenda,” NIA said, quoting from the chargesheet.
Objects were hurled, anti-India slogans shouted and Khalistani flags raised by the agitators during the protest, which incidentally followed barely three days after the pro-Khalistan protestors had tried to storm the Indian embassy and pulled down the tricolour hoisted there.
Gaba was arrested by NIA on April 25 this year, though he was detained earlier on December 23, 2023, by the Indian immigration authorities at the Attari border, based on a lookout circular opened against him, upon arrival from London via Pakistan.
The accused was subjected to intensive interrogation by NIA and restrained from leaving the country while the probe was on. During the investigations over next few months, the NIA seized Gaba’s mobile phone and scrutinised the data, including several incriminating videos/photos of the London HC attack incident, and eventually established his involvement in the incident.
“NIA investigations so far have revealed that the attacks in London were conspired and perpetrated in retaliation to the action taken by Punjab police against Amritpal Singh, Chief of Waris Punjab De, with the objective of influencing the crackdown on the outfit and its leader. The violent attack on the High Commission was aimed at furthering and achieving the cause of Khalistan by secession of the state of Punjab from India,” said an NIA spokesperson.
Amritpal was elected to the Lok Sabha in June this year from the Khadoor Sahib seat in Punjab.
Avtar Singh Khanda
, the purported mentor of Amritpal who died in a Birmingham hospital in June 2023, is said to have masterminded the attacks on the Indian HC in London.
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