Attack on Indian consulate in San Francisco: NIA raids 14 locations in 2 states

Ludhiana, November 22

As part of its continuing investigations into the attacks on the Consulate General of India in San Francisco, USA, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) today raided multiple locations across Punjab and Haryana.

A total of 14 locations were raided in the two neighbouring states by the NIA teams in a bid to unravel the conspiracy behind the March 19 and July 2 attacks, involving criminal trespass, vandalism, damage to public property and attempts to cause hurt to consulate officials and set the consulate building on fire through acts of arson, a senior functionary told The Tribune here today.

He said the NIA had been probing the case with an aim to identifying and prosecuting the attackers. A team of the NIA had visited San Francisco in August to investigate the incidents of attacks on the consulate.

The NIA has sourced information to identify and collect information about some US-based entities and individuals involved in these violent incidents. The agency has already identified certain individuals who were part of the conspiracy. These include the attackers and their associates, who are both Indian and foreign nationals.

The locations raided by NIA today were spread across the districts of Ludhiana, Moga, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Mohali and Patiala and Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in Haryana. The crackdown led to the seizure of digital data containing information related to the accused persons, along with other incriminating documents.

In Ludhiana, the residential and official premises of Sarabjit Singh Kang, a close associate of local AAP MLA Manwinder Singh Giaspura, were searched in Khanna.