Jalalabad Bomb Blast Case: NIA Files Chargesheet Against 6 Khalistani Terrorists

A bomb explosion rocked Jalalabad town of Fazilka district in September last year, killing one person.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had re-registered the case in October last year (PTI File)

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency filed a chargesheet on Tuesday against six Khalistani terrorists, including two Pakistanis, in connection with the Jalalabad bomb blast case in Punjab, PTI reported.

A bomb explosion rocked Jalalabad town of Fazilka district in September last year, killing one person.

In a statement, an NIA spokesperson said Parveen Singh of Punjab's Fazilka and Sukhwinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Ranjit Singh -- all three of Ferozepur -- have been named in the chargesheet. Pakistani national Habib Khan alias Doctor and Pakistan-based designated terrorist Lakhbir Singh Rode have also been named.

"They have been charged with sections of the Explosive Substances Act; the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act; the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code before a special NIA court in SAS Nagar," the statement said.

The case was re-registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in October of last year.

The NIA said its probe has found that a conspiracy was hatched by Pakistan-based designated terrorist Rode, the self-styled chief of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and his associates to cause multiple explosions at crowded places in Punjab and to "affect large scale causalities and strike terror in the minds of people". 

According to the statement, another Pakistan-based narco-terror operative, Habib Khan, radicalised and recruited Balwinder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh and inspired them to place explosives using pre-assembled Improvised Explosive Devices (tiffin bombs) brought across the border with heroin.

Binder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh got eight pre-assembled tiffin bombs along with large quantities of heroin and money to fund their terror activities.

Prior to the Jalalabad bombing, the terrorists set fire to a car and a few stores in Ferozpur, according to the report.

In September last year, Binder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh conducted reconnaissance of a crowded market in Jalalabad town for carrying out explosion, the NIA statement said.

While Binder Singh was trying to retrieve the motorcycle along with the planted tiffin bomb after it did not explode at the designated time, he was killed on the spot due to explosion.

(With PTI Inputs)