Who is Lakhbir Singh 'Landa', for whom NIA has announced Rs 15 lakh cash reward

As the India-Canada diplomatic tussle continued, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday upped the ante in their crackdown against designated terrorists related to Khalistani group Babbar Khalsa International aka Babbar Khalsa.

The agency announced cash incentives for information leading to the arrest of five operatives of the Babbar Khalsa, including Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias ‘Landa’, who faces multiple criminal cases in India.

Landa has been named in such lists by the NIA in the past also.

NIA believes Landa to be the mastermind behind several cases of terrorism, including the 2022 rocket-propelled grenade attacks on the police intelligence headquarters and the Sarhali police station in Punjab.

Landa hails from Punjab’s Tarn Taran and was initially involved in criminal and gangster activities in the region only.

Indian authorities believe he fled to Canada in 2017 and came into contact with Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda. Rinda was also named in the list of five terrorists for whom by NIA announced a cash reward.

Landa started working for the banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International and has been operating from Canada since then.

NIA also charged him with masterminding the conspiracy to kill Punjab Police sub-inspector Dilbagh Singh in August 2022.

According to agency sources, Landa is currently living in Edmonton in Alberta.

"The wanted terrorists are accused of commission of terror acts and activities, besides raising funds for the BKI, a banned terror outfit, through smuggling of terrorist hardware and narcotics into Punjab and also through extensive extortion from businessmen and other prominent individuals,” the spokesperson for the agency said while announcing the cash reward.

"They are also wanted in cases relating to commissioning of targeted killings as well as targeting of law enforcement agencies in order to create an environment of terror in the state of Punjab," the spokesperson added.

India-Canada ties were seeing uneasiness in the recent past over India’s claims of the North American country not being strict enough against pro-Khalistan elements.

However, the remarks by the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his Parliament where accused the government of India of being linked to the assassination of designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada sent the relations between the two countries into a freefall.

Both countries expelled each other’s diplomats and today India suspended visas for Canadians.

"Canada needs to look at its reputation as a safe haven for terrorists," the MEA said today.

(With PTI inputs)