Notorious gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar along with 12 others have been chargesheeted by India’s anti-terror agency for their alleged links with several banned Khalistani outfits like Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in a terror-gangster nexus case.

The National Investigation Agency is investigating three cases of nexus between Khalistani terrorists and gangsters.

“Lawrence Bishnoi, in custody since 2015, has been operating his terror-crime syndicate from jails in different states, along with Canada-based Goldy Brar, who is an accused in the killing of Pradeep Kumar, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, in Faridkot in November 2022,” the NIA said in a statement.

It said that the Lawrence Bishnoi terror-crime-extortion syndicate was also responsible for the rocket-prolled grenade (RPG) attack on Punjab State Intelligence headquarters in Punjab’s Mohali, which was carried out on directions of Pakistan-based BKI terrorist Harwinder Singh.

Goldy Brar was found to have direct links with Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, another BKI operative working closely with Rinda, the agency’s investigation revealed. Landa is also an accused in the Mohali RPG attack, as well as the December 2022 RPG attack on Sirhali police station in Tarn Taran district of Punjab.

All the 14 accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy to “unleash a wave of terror and carry out targeted killings of well-known social and religious leaders, movie stars, singers and businessmen”.

“Besides having links with conspirators in Pakistan, the accused were also in contact with pro-Khalistani elements based in Canada, Nepal and other countries,” the NIA said.

The agency has seized a cache of nine illegal and sophisticated weapons, 14 magazines, 298 rounds of ammunition and 183 digital devices and other incriminating material in raids across 74 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chandigarh and Delhi in the terror nexus case.

The investigating agency had conducted large-scale searches over a period of six months and examined around 70 members of different organised crime support networks during the course of its investigations.

Seven look out circulars (LOCs) and 5 non-bailable warrants (NBWs) have been issued by the NIA so far. It has also attached/seized seven immovable properties under Section 25 UA(P) Act and frozen 62 bank accounts. The investigations further led the NIA to the hideouts set up across Haryana and Punjab, which were being used to harbour the gangsters and store weapons, it said.

Apart from Bishnoi and Brar, other chargesheeted accused are Jagdeep Singh, Satwinderjeet Singh, Sachin Thapan, Anmol Bishnoi, Vikramjeet Singh, Sandeep Jhanjariya, Virender Pratap Singh, Joginder Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Raj Kumar, Anil, Naresh Yadav and Shahbaaz Ansari.

On March 21, the NIA had filed its first chargesheet against 12 accused in the terror-gangster nexus cases under investigation. The accused in that case were identified as Arsh Dala, Gaurav Patyal, Sukhpreet Buddha, Kaushal Choudhary, Amit Dagar, Naveen Bali, Chhotu Bhat, Asif Khan, Jagga Takhatmal, Tillu Tajpuria, Bhupi Rana and Sandeep Bandar.

Friday’s action takes the total number of accused chargesheeted by the NIA in all the three terror nexus cases being probed by the NIA to 26.

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