New Delhi: Investigation done by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed that the conspiracy to eliminate Amit Arora, Shiv Sena leader who was under the radar of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), was hatched in six countries. The agency says the funds were collected from three countries including Australia.

The NIA investigation has revealed further that the conspirators' motto was to destabilise the law-and-order situation in Punjab and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state.

“It was found that the conspiracy had its footprints in several countries including Pakistan, the 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, namely Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh. These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings and other logistics,” the NIA said.

Amit Arora, a Shiv Sena leader, was attacked by goons when he was sitting in his car on the direction of senior leadership of KLF.

The NIA arrested eight accused under 12 Sections of IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.

“During the 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 Khalistan Liberation Force (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,” the NIA said.

The NIA has alleged that the conspiracy included recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy, Dubai and UAE.

Hardeep Singh is a permanent resident of Italy while Ramandeep Singh belongs to Ludhiana. Both were trained by a certain Gursharanbir Singh, a British national.

Another British national, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been arrested in the case, was involved in the funding of the conspiracy.

Day-to-day coordination of the conspiracy was done by Pakistan-based Harmeet Singh alias PhD.

The NIA 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.

Accused in the case

  1. Hardeep Singh alias Shera alias Pahalwaan
     
  2. Ramandeep Singh alias Canadian alias Bagga
     
  3. Dharminder Singh alias Guguni
     
  4. Anil Kumar alias Kala
     
  5. Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi alias Johar
     
  6. Harmeet Singh alias Happy alias PhD alias Doctor (Suspected to be in Pakistan)
     
  7. Gurjinder Singh alias Shastri (Suspected to be in Italy)
     
  8. Gursharanbir Singh alias Gurusharan Singh Wahiwala alias Pehalwan (Suspected to be in the UK)