Pilibhit encounter: UK caller a wanted BKI militant: Police

The finding came during investigation by Pilibhit police and other security agencies, including UP anti-terror squad (ATS) and National Investigation Agency (NIA), the officials added. The three KZF militants were gunned down in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit on December 23.

The man who made an internet call from the United Kingdom (UK) to two local youths in Pilibhit to arrange a hotel room for three alleged militants of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), turned out to be a wanted militant of Babar Khalsa International (BKI), Kulbir Singh Sidhu, confirmed senior police officials.

NIA had declared reward of ₹10 lakh on Sidhu after his name surfaced in the murder of VHP leader Vikas Prabhakar in Nangal (Shutterstock)

The finding came during investigation by Pilibhit police and other security agencies, including UP anti-terror squad (ATS) and National Investigation Agency (NIA), the officials added. The three KZF militants were gunned down in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit on December 23.

The NIA had declared a reward of ₹10 lakh on Sidhu, who is wanted in the sensational murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Vikas Prabhakar alias Vikas Bagga, who was shot dead in his confectionary shop at Nangal in Rupnagar district on April 13.

The NIA had filed a chargesheet against six people — two absconders, including Kulbir Sidhu, who is said to be based in UK for nine months now, Pakistan-based BKI chief Wadhwa Singh alias Babbar and three arrested accused in the case as per the NIA statement in October earlier this year.

Pilibhit superintendent of police (SP) Avinash Pandey reconfirmed that the wanted BKI militant Kulbir Singh Sidhu had called a local Pilibhit youth Jaspal Singh alias Sunny to arrange a hotel room for the three KZF militants on December 20.

He said Sunny has been sent to jail after questioning on finding his involvement in assisting the three militants by portraying them as his relatives despite being aware of their terror links. He said Sunny’s friend Manoj is being interrogated by police.

Another police official privy to the investigation said Sunny revealed during interrogation that he and several other youths of Pilibhit’s Puranpur area were in touch with Siddhu. They came in contact with him when he stayed in Puranpur for around three years.

He said Sunny told police that Sidhu visited Puranpur from his native village in Haryana during the Covid pandemic in 2020-21 and left for Greece in April this year. He said Sidhu is currently claimed to be living in England and allegedly in touch with other pro-Khalistan militants.

This police official said Sunny disclosed that Sidhu participated in several sports activities in the region during his stay in Puranpur and formed a huge network of youngsters with whom he is still in touch and interacts regularly.

He also said Sunny’s elder brother Major Singh has also been living in England for the past two-and-a-half years and is suspected to be in touch with Sidhu. Besides, four more youths, including a brother of a former village pradhan, are in constant touch with Sidhu.

Earlier, the three operatives -- Varinder Singh alias Ravi, Gurwinder Singh and Jashanpreet Singh alias Partap Singh -- accused of attacking a police outpost of Gurdaspur district in Punjab with grenades, were gunned down in Pilibhit’s Puranpur during a joint operation by UP and Punjab Police against the KZF terror module controlled by one Ranjeet Singh Nita and operated by Jaswinder Singh Mannu.

It was further controlled by UK-based Jagjeet Singh, said to be serving in the British Army. He used the identity of Fateh Singh Baggi. UK authorities, however, reportedly refuted Punjab Police’s findings about the involvement of a British Army soldier, Jagjeet Singh, in terrorist activities in India.

The UK ministry of defence on Tuesday said no one by that name was serving in the British Army, while the Punjab director general of police backed the investigation, and saying the matter will be taken up with the British authorities “through proper channels”, an English daily reported.

Passport suspected to have been made during Pilibhit stay

Another senior police official said Sidhu visited Pilibhit with a long-term plan to create a network of youths, who could easily be roped in to execute terror activities.

He said Sidhu’s passport, on which he first went to Greece and then to England, is also suspected to be made with a Pilibhit address during his stay there for three years. “We are verifying this fact with the passport authorities,” he added.