NIA files charge sheet against 6 Khalistani terrorists, including 2 Pakistanis, in Jalalabad bomb blast case

Chandigarh, Mar 15 (PTI) The NIA on Tuesday filed a charge sheet against six Khalistani terrorists including 2 Pakistanis for their alleged involvement in the Jalalabad bomb blast case in Punjab.

Parveen Singh of Punjab's Fazilka and Sukhwinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Ranjit Singh -- all three of Ferozepur -- have been named in the charge sheet along with Pakistani national Habib Khan alias Doctor and Pakistan-based designated terrorist Lakhbir Singh Rode, an NIA spokesperson said in a statement.

They have been charged with sections of the Explosive Substances Act; the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act; the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code before a special NIA court in SAS Nagar, the statement said.

The case pertains to a bomb explosion in Jalalabad town of Fazilka district in September last year in which one person was killed, it said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had re-registered the case in October last year.

The NIA probe has revealed the conspiracy of Pakistan-based designated terrorist Rode, the self-styled chief of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and his associates to cause multiple explosions at crowded places in Punjab and to effect large scale causalities and strike terror in the minds of people, the spokesperson of the premier investigation agency said.

On directions of Rode, another Pakistan-based narco-terror operative Habib Khan radicalised and recruited Balwinder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh and motivated them to plant bombs using pre-assembled Improvised Explosive Devices (Tiffin Bombs) smuggled along with Heroin from across the border, according to the statement.

In furtherance of their plan, eight pre-assembled Tiffin Bombs (along with training material) were received by Binder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh along with large quantities of Heroin and money, sent to fund their terror activities, the NIA statement said.

Prior to the bomb explosion that occurred in Jalalabad, this terrorist gang had also set ablaze a car as well as a few shops in Ferozpur city, it said.

In September last year, Binder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh conducted reconnaissance of a crowded market in Jalalabad town for carrying out explosion, it said, adding that while Binder Singh was trying to retrieve the motorcycle along with the planted Tiffin Bomb after it did not explode at the designated time, he was killed on the spot due to explosion. PTI CPS SKL CK