The NIA has filed a charge sheet against three terrorists belonging to banned Khalistani outfits BKI and KTF, along with unearthing their international nodes involved in recruitment and operations of India-based terrorist operatives. An NIA official has given this information on Sunday.

The charge sheet filed in the special court on Sunday also names six other associates, who are associated with the Babbar Khalsa International and the Khalistan Tiger Force. It also highlighted a complex fund-raising system for both organizations, said an agency spokesperson.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said it is also probing the links of 16 other absconding and arrested accused linked to BKI and KTF. The spokesman said that three notorious gangster-turned terrorists and drug smugglers - Harvinder Singh Sandhu alias 'Rinda', Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias 'Landa' of BKI and Arshdeep Singh alias 'Arsh Dala' of KTF, have created their own network of operatives there to carry out terrorist activities in India from outside the country.

He said that through this complex overseas network, they recruit, embolden and operate their associates in India, through whom their associates carry out terrorist activities in India, extortion and cross-border smuggling of arms and drugs.

The spokesperson further added that he also has links with major gangs operating in North India, including local gangsters, organized criminal syndicates and networks. According to NIA, Rinda is a very prominent member of BKI and a Khalistani operative. He illegally fled to Pakistan in the year 2018-19 and is currently living there under the protection of ISI, and is involved in carrying out terrorist activities against India.

Rinda is involved in a variety of crimes such as smuggling of arms, ammunition, explosives and drugs from Pakistan to India. Along with this, BKI is involved in various crimes like recruitment of activists, murders, raising funds for BKI through extortion in the states of Punjab and Maharashtra.

The official said that Rinda has been involved in several terrorist activities including the RPG attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in May 2022. The agency said he was declared an "individual terrorist" by the Center along with Dala and Landa.

According to the spokesperson, Dala, a resident of Moga, is a notorious gangster who had migrated to Canada some time back and came in contact with Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the chief of banned terrorist organization KTF.

The spokesman said that both were engaged in recruiting youths and forming terrorist gangs to raise funds for KTF and to carry out targeted killings of traders and leaders of particular communities in Punjab.

The official said Landa from Tarn Taran was initially involved in criminal and gangster activities and moved to Canada in 2017 where he came in contact with Rinda. Landa started working for the BKI and emerged as the prime accused in several terrorist incidents, including the RPG attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters and the Sarhali police station in Tarn Taran in December, 2022.

He was also the mastermind of the conspiracy to murder Punjab Police sub-inspector Dilbag Singh in August last year, the spokesman said. The agency said other foreign-based chargesheeted BKI operatives include Harjot Singh who is currently in the United States, Kashmir Singh Galvaddi, who is absconding in the Nabha jailbreak case and is suspected to be currently in Nepal, and Landa's brother Tarsem Singh, who is currently in Dubai.

Gurjant Singh, who is hiding in Australia, is one of the foreign-based nodes of KTF against whom the chargesheet has been filed, the spokesperson said. Other accused named in the chargesheet include Deepak Ranga and Lucky Khokhar alias 'Dennis', who were recruited by foreign-based handlers to carry out terrorist activities in India.