Mohali (Punjab) – British Sikh Jagtar Johal was produced in a special NIA court here on Tuesday and remanded in three-day custody of NIA. Earlier, he was in Ludhiana police custody.
As stated in the Indian Express – “Yes, the dera chief was the prime target. The accused were to execute the plan early this year but I continued to get delayed due to tight security of Ram Rahim. The plan was made in France in 2012 when Johal had met Harminder Singh Mintoo, a member of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). There are some other some political people who were the target but we cannot disclose the details as it could hamper the investigation,” said sources in the NIA.
An officer said that even after the arrest of Mintoo, the KLF continued to work on the plan to kill the dera chief and Johal was allegedly in touch with some of the top leaders of KLF who are based in some European countries.
Mintoo was one of the prisoners who had escaped from Nabha jail last year along with some gangsters, including Vicky Goundar. He was later arrested from Delhi.
NIA’s senior prosecutor Surinder Singh said that they wanted to probe who were the people who helped Johal. He added that NIA wanted to know about the transfer of money in the accounts of Johal and other accused from the foreign-based militant groups.
“We sought a remand of seven days but the court has granted three-day remand till December 22. We also wanted to know Johal’s connection with Mintoo whom he had met in France,” he added.
Johal who was in the custody of Ludhiana police till December 19 will now be in NIA’s custody. Johal was allegedly involved in the targeted killings of some RSS leaders in the state which took place in the state in the last one year.