NIA FILES CHARGESHEET AGAINST KTF’S PEETA & MANDEEP

New Delhi, 1st February 2024: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed a Chargesheet against Khalistan Terrorist Force (KTF) members Manpreet Singh alias Peeta and Mandeep Singh, who were got deported from the Philippines by the agency recently.

NIA has named the two, identified as associates of ‘listed individual terrorist’, Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla, in its 2nd Supplementary Chargesheet in case RC-37/2022/NIA/DLI.

Dalla had recruited Peeta and Mandeep Singh, who were operating from the Philippines on his directions. The duo was actively involved in recruiting youth into Dalla’s Terror & Crime Syndicate. They were playing a vital role in the larger terror conspiracy against India by raising funds for the proscribed terrorist organization KTF through large-scale extortions India, and channelisation of that money into drug and other businesses and trades and to various countries through the hawala network. They were also involved in smuggling of arms and ammunition from Pakistan into the Indian territory.

The NIA chargesheet filed today has exposed the role of international nodes of KTF, recruitment and handling of India based accused, as well as the complex fund-raising and transfer mechanism through formal channels with layering & other mechanisms, as well as through informal channels.

During investigations, it was revealed that the accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for the KTF. Dalla, in collusion with Peeta, had recruited criminal cadres & terror operatives and formed a full fledged Terror & Criminal Syndicate in Punjab. They were carrying out targeting of businessmen and High net-worth individuals & professionals , and opening fire in front of victims’ houses, if their demands for extortion were ignored.

The NIA investigations have established that the extortion money was being sent to various foreign countries through banking and non-banking channels to promote terror & terrorist activities against India. This complex network of operatives of KTF, based abroad and operating in India, was continuously involved recruiting and guiding their criminal associates in India, as per the ongoing investigations. The network was also involved in smuggling of arms and ammunition, besides explosives received from the across the border through drones and other diverse mediums for carrying out terrorist activities in India.

Earlier, the NIA had filed chargesheets against 13 accused persons in the instant case in July and November last year. Ten other accused and their aides, an associates with BKI and KTF, are under investigation for their role in the conspiracy.