New Delhi: Jaswinder Singh Multani, a prominent member of the banned terrorist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), was held in Germany on Monday, on the suspicion of involvement in the December 23 Ludhiana Court Blast case in which one person was killed and many others injured.
Multani was arrested after India shared evidence to counter-terror agencies in Berlin.
The investigating authorities suspected two people of being involved in the blasts, both belonging to the same terrorist group. From the information received, the intelligence agencies had located the suspects to be in Germany and Pakistan, and the arrest operations were planned accordingly. The German police arrested Multani from Erfurt city on Monday, with continued cooperation with authorities in India.
Intelligence agencies had already alerted about the accused, who is a top member of the SFJ and close associate of Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, residing in Germany. Additionally, the doubts were also pointing at Harvinder Singh Sandhu, a Babbar Khalsa terrorist who is currently in Pakistan.
Multani's name had propped up on the police radar first when he planned to kill farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal to create unrest during farmers' movement. The man arrested in the matter disclosed that he got instructions from a Germany-based pro-Khalistan leader named Jaswinder Singh Multani on social media to target a key farmer leader.
"Multani used to coordinate with Pakistan-based pro-Khalistan groups to provide logistic support for terror activities," informed a police officer.
After his arrest, it has come to light that Multani was also planning to carry out similar terrorist attacks in Delhi and Mumbai in the near future. A team of Indian police officers will soon reach Germany to question the accused further further.
On December 23, a bomb blast took place in the Ludhiana district court complex of Punjab, killing one person and injuring six others . After this incident, the Punjab government had issued a 'high alert' in the state. The blast came days after the incidents of alleged sabotage attempts at Amritsar's Golden Temple and a Gurudwara in Kapurthala. Two people were beaten to death in these incidents.
Also read: Ludhiana Court blast: Punjab CM suspects drug mafia link
