New Delhi: Thirty-eight-year-old Jagtar Singh Johal, a UK based “online activist”, currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail for his alleged association with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the banned separatist group Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and involvement in targeted killings of seven to eight Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members, Shiv Sena leaders and members, followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda religious sect and a Christian pastor in Ludhiana, in 2016-2017, found himself at the centre of renewed attention this week.
As UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak travelled to India for the G20 Summit held this weekend in New Delhi under India’s presidency, over 70 British MPs signed a letter urging Sunak to intervene in Johal’s case and call on his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for Johal’s release. The British government has, however, reportedly decided against calling for Johal’s release.
According to court orders seen by ThePrint, Johal has ten cases registered against him in India, under the Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and of murder and attempt to murder. While eight cases are under probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), two cases are being handled by the Punjab police and one by Delhi Police. He has been in jail since 2017.
According to sources in NIA, Johal was part of a “global conspiracy to revive terrorism in Punjab” and “drive a communal wedge in the border State by targeting leaders and members of minority communities in the State”.
Speaking to ThePrint, Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, Johal’s lawyer, called the allegations against his client baseless.
According to Manjhpur, of the 11 cases registered against Johal, chargesheets have been filed in all, but charges have been framed in only one case that was registered by Punjab Police immediately after his arrest from Jalandhar in 2017.
The lawyer added that Johal has already secured bail in two cases registered against him, including the one in which charges have been framed. He has also been discharged by police in two cases, one registered by Punjab Police and another by Delhi Police.
“In seven cases of NIA, bail is pending. In one of the cases where the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail, the NIA challenged it in the Supreme Court but that was turned down and order of bail was upheld,” said Manjhpur.
He added: “It has been more than five years that he has been in jail on allegations that have no basis. Even though he was associated with KLF in 2016-17, the organisation was banned [by India] only in 2018 after his abduction [Johal’s family has repeatedly referred to his arrest as abduction]. Is it a crime to be a part of some organisation?” he asked.
Johal had come to India on 2 October, 2017, to get married to a Punjabi woman on 18 October. While his brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal and parents flew back to the UK after the marriage, Johal chose to stay on and was arrested on 4 November, 2017, from Raman Mandi in Jalandhar where he had gone shopping with his wife.
“He was arrested only after his [KLF] associate Taljeet Singh alias Jimmy [also under arrest] told the police about his activities and involvement with KLF leaders,” the NIA source said.
ThePrint has reached spokespersons of both the NIA and Home Ministry for comment on the campaign for Johal’s release in the UK over text messages. The report will be updated if a response is received.
A Home Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity said, however, “there is nothing for us to comment on this. He is accused of a series of cases in India, he was arrested here and the law will take its own course in deciding the cases.”
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‘An online activist, author’
While according to Johal’s family members he was an author of a magazine called ‘Sikh Soorme’ and wrote blogs for justice of those killed in the 1984 Sikh riots, sources in the NIA said that he was involved in targeted killings carried out by a two-member killer module between January 2016 and November 2017 in Punjab.
A UK national and a resident of Scotland’s Dumbarton, Johal had studied till higher secondary and started portals such as “neverforget84.com” and “1984tribute.com”, where he spoke about justice of those killed in the anti-Sikh riots and became popular among the radical Sikh voices, a second source in NIA said.
He also translated news picked up from Punjabi dailies into English and put them out in local UK channels to earn money, the source added.
“He became famous as an online activist. He along with Gursharanbir Wahiwal, a prominent KLF leader, also wrote a book on KLF in the years 2013-14,” the second source said.
According to the source, Johal’s father was in the hotel industry and had moved to the UK in the ’70s. He, the source said, was working at a restaurant in Scotland where Johal was born.
Speaking to ThePrint from Scotland over WhatsApp, Johal’s brother Gurpreet Singh said that he was pleased to have so much support from the MPs in UK for his brother’s release. He added that he had been told that Sunak did take up the issue with PM Modi.
“I am pleased that the Prime Minister has raised my brother’s case with his counterpart, but raising is not enough unless he has called for Jagtar’s release in line with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s findings. Clearly, the Prime Minister had no option other than to raise Jagtar’s case, after so many MPs demanded he do so,” he said.
‘ISI link, funds, targeted killings’
According to the second NIA source, as part of a conspiracy to revive terrorism in Punjab, Johal had a close connect with the Pakistan KLF chief Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD who was killed in January 2020, and UK based Amritbir Wahiwal, along with smaller supporting operators in Italy, namely Gurjinder Singh alias Shastri and some leaders in Canada.
Amritbir and Gursharanbir (referred to above), known as the Wahiwal brothers, are said to be the top functionaries of the Khalistan movement globally, which seeks to establish a separate homeland for Sikhs.
The source alleged that Johal was inducted into the “ISI-backed terror network” by the Wahiwal brothers and other terror operatives based in UK, Italy and Canada, as he was a “highly educated, and radicalised individual, who was always very tech and social-media savvy”.
In December 2020, the Wahiwal brothers and a person identified by Punjab Police as Pyara Singh were arrested in UK following India’s extradition request in the 2009 Rashtriya Sikh Sangat chief Rulda Singh’s murder case.
According to sources, the NIA probing a series of targeted killings in Punjab in 2016-17, had filed a chargesheet against Gursharanbir accusing him of “funding and planning violence in the Khalistan movement”.
The NIA had alleged that he had come to India to carry out Rulda’s murder and trained the accused in the targeted killings case of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Punjab vice-president Brig Jagdish Gagneja in 2016.
NIA also said that funds facilitated by the Johal were handed over to accused Hardeep Singh alias Shera in Paris, who along with Ramandeep Singh alias Bagga used them for carrying out eight incidents of targeted killings and attempted killings.
“In June 2013, KLF operatives, Harminder Singh alias Mintoo (now dead) and Hardeep Singh took a tour of France and Germany by road. There they met Johal, who had handed over 3000 British Pounds to Mintoo in France. Such money was given towards executing a larger conspiracy and for recruitment and motivating like minded persons to join Khalistan Liberation Force,” a third NIA source said.
The source added: “Further investigation established that Hardeep Singh alias Shera and Ramandeep Singh had carried out a series of targeted killings and attempted killings during the period of 2016-17 in Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts of Punjab with the motive of destabilising the law and order situation of Punjab using the funds.”
“Johal was found to be a close associate of Harmeet Singh and Gursharanbir Singh, the mastermind of conspiracy and as such had played a vital role in the planning and execution of the larger conspiracy,” the source added.
In January 2021, Delhi Police also took remand of Johal and accused him of establishing contact from Tihar jail with ‘gangster’ Sukmeet Pal Singh alias Sukh Bhikhariwal, arrested in December 2020. Delhi police, however, did not name Johal in its chargesheet and he was later discharged in the said case.
On allegations of him being associated with ISI, Johal’s lawyer Manjhpur said, “For NIA, any Sikh who goes to Pakistan becomes a terrorist. There is no basis, no evidence for these allegations,” he said.
Attempts for his release
UK member of parliament Preet Kaur Gill Friday took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to share an audio clip from an interview to British radio station, BBC Asia Network, where she is heard about the “arbitrary detention” of British national Jagtar Singh Johal in India.
She posted saying “Shocking that Rishi [PM Rishi Sunak] isn’t going to call for Jagtar Singh Johal’s release. Jaggi is a British national and has been arbitrarily detained. The Sikh community are concerned”
As Chair of @AppgBritSikhs i spoke to @bbcasiannetwork ahead of Rishi Sunak visit to India.
Shocking that Rishi isn't going to call for Jagtar Singh Johal's release.
Jaggi is a British national and has been arbitrarily detained. The sikh community are concerned. @Reprieve pic.twitter.com/mJszPTd3YZ
— Preet Kaur Gill MP (@PreetKGillMP) September 8, 2023
In the clip, the Indian-origin MP from Birmingham, Edgbaston, says, “What people expect from this government is clear leadership. This is a British national. The least any government should be doing is making sure that they can secure their release, especially when they have been arbitrarily detained.”
This is not the first time that UK MPs are taking Johal’s cause. Akal Takht Sahib and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, have also taken a stand, favouring his release.
In 2021, nearly 140 MPs and peers had reportedly written to Dominic Raab, MP from the British Conservative party, urging him to do more to secure Johal’s release. In June 2022 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was quoted in the media as saying that the Indian government is “arbitrarily detaining” Johal, then held in an Indian jail for four-and-a-half years.
In a letter to Keir Starmer, leader of UK’s Labour Party, the prime minister reportedly said Singh has been arbitrarily detained without formal charges being laid against him.
According to a 2021 media report, Johnson had said the issue had been raised with the Indian government almost 100 times since Johal’s detention in November 2017.
“In the letter, he said the case was raised by the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, with the Indian external affairs minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, during visits to India in October 2021 and March 2022. Johnson added he had personally raised the case directly with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on his visit,” the report said.
In May last year, the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had also reportedly published a report calling Johal’s arrest arbitrary. It stated that there had been “violations of international human rights norms and standards in the arrest and detention of Mr. Johal” as well as “multiple violations of [his] right to a fair trial”
It called on the Indian government “to take urgent action to ensure the immediate unconditional release of Mr. Johal” and “accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
Speaking about the campaign to raise the issue of Johal’s release by Sunak, his brother Gurpreet Singh said, “I fear that this is just more talk from the U.K. government and no action. The campaign [for Johal’s release] continues until Jagtar is back home in Scotland.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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