NIA starts proceedings to declare Multani as proclaimed offender

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, February 23

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed an application before the Special Judge, NIA court, Chandigarh, for issuance of proclamation proceedings against Jaswinder Singh Multani, a prominent member of the banned pro-Khalistan outfit, Sikhs for Justice, in a case registered for allegedly planting a bomb near the Model Jail here in April 2022.

Jagjit Singh, Special Judge, NIA court, has fixed the next date of hearing in the case for March 2, 2023 for the consideration of the application.

On April 23, 2022, a team of the operations cell of the Chandigarh Police had discovered the bomb after noticing smoke near the jail’s wall while patrolling the area around 7.30 pm. As per the FIR, the bomb was discovered by Inspector Amanjot Singh while patrolling along with the Quick Reaction Team of the operations cell. They found it was concealed in a bag with a box, detonator and some burnt wires. The bomb was defused by a National Security Guard (NSG) team the next day.

The detonator was wrapped in an Urdu Pakistani newspaper. The bag also contained some printouts with “Khalistan Action Force” written on them. During a search of the area, another detonator, along with a mobile phone, was recovered on April 28. The Chandigarh Police analysed the mobile data of the area.

Several suspicious numbers were shortlisted and one of them was found switched off since the discovery of the bomb. Later, it was discovered that the number was in the name of Jaswinder Singh Multani and was used to make an international call to Germany. A close associate of US-based SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, Multani, was also allegedly the mastermind of the 2021 Ludhiana court blast case. The police registered the case against the accused under Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substance Act – 1908 and Sections 13, 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

On May 18, 2022, the NIA took over the case and begun the investigation. Multani is a pro-Khalistan terrorist originally belonging to Mansoorpur village near Mukerian, Hoshiarpur. He is also named in several FIRs in Punjab.