UK: India Has Not Approached Us Over Perpetrators of Bomb Blasts in Panjab

On 24 Dec, Panjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav claimed British Army soldier Jagjeet Singh, alias Fateh Singh ‘Baagi’, was the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) operative behind the bomb blasts on police stations and posts in Panjab (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 52, Story 2). On 25 Dec, Rhian Shillabeer from the UK Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, London, said, 'There is no one with either the name or pseudonym provided currently serving in the British Army. We have had no approach from Indian authorities about anyone in the Army being involved in the incident you reference in any way.' However, Jagjeet Singh’s father Joginder Singh, a retired Subedar from the Indian Army, confirmed that his son is employed in the British Army and had served in Afghanistan. He questioned the state police’s claims saying they make 'no sense'. Panjab police has now added Ranjeet Singh Neeta to the list of accused. Neeta hails from Simbal Camp, Jammu and founded KZF in 1993. According to police, KZF is responsible for the killing of Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkand Ballan in Vienna, Austria in May 2009 and Rashtriya Sikh Sangat chief Rulda Singh in July 2009. The Uttar Pradesh (UP) police also claim that a Haryana youth, Siddhu (no first name), based in England, had called two Pilibhit youths, Sunny and Manoj (no other names) on 20 Dec, to arrange a hotel room for the three alleged 'militants', who were gunned down in an encounter. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has demanded a judicial probe into the encounter killings. It must be noted that in 2022, the Allahabad High Court had convicted 43 policemen for extrajudicial killings of 10 Sikhs in Pilibhit, UP in 1991.