Woman among three Khalistani sympathisers arrested in Patiala
Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, December 28
The Patiala police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested three members of a gang allegedly campaigning for SFJ (Sikhs for Justice) against the unity and integrity of India along with propaganda material.
SSP Patiala Harcharan Singh Bhullar confirmed that in view of the recent incidents and the forthcoming elections, Patiala police managed to arrest a woman and two persons on December 26 with a large quantity of pro-Khalistani and anti-India material.
They were allegedly distributing registration forms by visiting various religious and other public places by inciting people to vote for holding a referendum to form Khalistan.
Giving further details in this regard, Bhullar said under the supervision of Gurbans Singh Bains, DSP Rajpura, Inspector Tejinder Singh, SHO police station Banur, along with the police party, was present near Banno Mayi Mandir Main Road, Banur.
He was then informed that Jagmeet Singh, a resident of village Dargapur in Gurdaspur district, now residing at Housefed Society Banur, Ravinder Singh, resident of village Jasra under police station Mandi Gobindgarh district Fatehgarh Sahib, are preaching in favour of Khalistan.
“By visiting various religious and other public places, they were distributing registration forms for voting by urging innocent people to vote for a referendum to form Khalistan. They were writing slogans and pasting posters of Khalistan Zindabad at various religious and public places,” said Bhullar.
These posters and other printing materials were allegedly being provided to them by Jagmeet Singh’s mother Jasveer Kaur following which FIR dated December 26 against the accused under Sections 153A, 505(2), 505(3), 120B-of the IPC at Banur police station was registered and print and other promotional materials from the possession of the accused was recovered.
“The third accused Jasveer Kaur who was standing at the old sale tax barrier to hand over the referendum voting registration to above mentioned accused has been arrested and print propaganda material has been recovered from her possession too,” the SSP said.
Bhullar further said the initial interrogation of the accused revealed that the kingpin of the gang was Jasveer Kaur.
Their background is from Gurdaspur district, and they shifted here about 12-13 years ago, Bhullar said.
Accused Kuldeep Singh used to go to Gurdwara Sahib Sri Fatehgarh Sahib with his family to serve in Akhand Kirtan Jatha. Accused Ravinder Singh was also doing seva in Gurdwara Sahib. Ravinder Singh and Jagmeet Singh became friends due to exchange of views and both became active in this illegal activity, he said.
Accused Jasveer Kaur’s family background is also allegedly linked to terrorism. Jasveer Kaur’s elder brother-in-law Manjit Singh, son of Arjan Singh, resident of Dargapur district Gurdaspur was the area commander of terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (Sukhdev Babbar Group) at the time of terrorism.
Jasveer Kaur is now urging her son and other allies to work against the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, he said.
Jasveer Kaur and her son Jagmeet Singh were allegedly associated with banned organisations such as Referendum 2020, Sikhs for Justice, creating different Khalistan through social media like WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube.
Sikhs for Justice is a social media organisation run by people sitting abroad via internet and in India, it is banned.
Jasveer Kaur received some funding for campaigning for Khalistan, police said.
The accused have been produced in court and remanded in police custody for six days. The case is under investigation and in the near future there are likely to be major revelations about who else is a partner in this crime and who is helping them from home and abroad.
