2021 Punjab motorcycle blast case: NIA freezes immovable property of accused

New Delhi: The NIA has freezed a property of a man involved in a blast in Punjab in 2021 and has links to Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorists, according to an official statement issued on Friday.

The case relates to an explosion in a Bajaj Platina motorcycle near a Punjab National Bank branch in Jalalabad in which the bike-bomber was killed.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has 'frozen' the property of Surat Singh alias 'Surti', a resident of Mahatam Nagar village under Punjab's Sadar Fazilka police station, under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the statement said.

Surat Singh had links with Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorists Habib Khan alias 'Doctor', a weapons and drugs smuggler, and Lakhveer Singh alias 'Rode', according to the statement.

Khan, Lakhveer Singh, a designated terrorist, and Surat Singh are among the nine people charge-sheeted by the NIA so far in the case, the federal probe agency said in the statement. "The said property (of Surat Singh) comprises khewat numbers 84/78, 93/87, and 95/89, totalling an area of 13 kanal, 17 marla and five sarsai," it said.

The NIA probe has revealed that Khan and Lakhveer Singh had collaborated with Surat Singh and their other associates in India to create a terror gang in Punjab with the aim of perpetrating improvised explosive device (IED) blasts and operating a narco-terror racket to destabilise the region, the statement said.

In a major step towards destroying the financial infrastructure of narco-terror operatives in the country, the NIA has freezed the immovable property of the key operative in the 2021 case relating to the fatal motorcycle-borne explosion in Punjab, it said.

Surat Singh has been identified as a key agent in the terror network involved in smuggling of narcotics, explosives, arms and ammunition from Pakistan, the NIA said.

He used encrypted communication channels such as WhatsApp, along with fake IDs and virtual numbers to facilitate the logistical and financial aspects of terrorist activities as an overground worker (OGW) of the narco-terror network, according to findings of the NIA.

In association with the other accused, he had provided support for the execution of criminal conspiracies on the directions of Pakistan-based handlers, the statement said.

The case was initially registered under different sections of the Explosives Act at the City Jalalabad police station in Punjab's Fazilka on September 16, 2021, a day after the blast. The NIA took over the case on October 1, 2021.