New Delhi: The accused who painted pro-Khalistan graffiti on four Delhi Metro stations has been arrested, the Delhi Police said Thursday, adding he was associated with the banned terrorist organisation, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).
The accused Pritpal Singh, 30, was promised $7,000 for the job by US-based SFJ handler Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the special cell said in a release.
The police said Singh, along with his associate Rajvinder was “involved in the painting of pro-Khalistan graffiti on the walls of different Metro Stations in the area of PS Punjabi, Bagh, PS Paschim Vihar, and PS Nangloi in the late evening hours of August 26, 2023”.
An FIR was filed the next day on charges of defacement of public property, the release said.
The man from Punjab’s Faridkot is the son of Sardar Gurlal Singh, a retired employee of the health department. He completed his Masters from Fardikot and graduated in law in 2020, following which he studied forensic science in Khalsa College, Rajasthan, the police added.
During Covid in 2020, Singh came across a social media post seeking for help – put up “by one pro-Khalistan/SFJ person who was an associate of SFJ handler Gurpatwant Singh Pannun”.
Singh and his family members were paid Rs 5,000 each after he responded to that post, cops said in a release.
He started texting Pannun at the beginning of 2022, the police said, adding the handler began to share details about the movement of VVIPs with Singh.
Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, H.G.S Dhaliwal said in the statement: “Gradually, he won Pannun’s trust, and Pannun had sent Rs 5,000 to him several times through Western Union. In June 2022, Pannun also sent Rs 90,000 for the treatment of Sh. Harjinder Singh (now deceased), uncle of Pritpal. The money was transferred through Western Union. Pritpal used to receive the money by showing his uncle’s Aadhaar card. So far, he has received around Rs 2 lakh from Pannun.”
About a month ago, Pannun asked Singh to paint pro-Khalistani slogans in Delhi before the G20 summit from 8-10 September.
“For this purpose, he was offered 7,000 USD. He got 3,500 USD in advance from Pannun. As per the deal, the rest of the 3,500 USD was to be paid to him after the completion of the task,” the police said.
Singh enlisted the help of his office boy Rajvinder Kalu and “offered him half the money”.
They purchased paint from Barnala and left for Delhi on 25 August. The duo checked out different spots on the morning of 26 August and zeroed in on the Metro stations of West Delhi.
After offering prayers at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, they boarded a bus to Punjabi Bagh, the police said.
“There, they painted pro-Khalistan graffiti on the walls of metro stations between Shivaji Park Metro Station and Maharaja Surajmal Stadium Metro. Thereafter, they boarded an auto-rickshaw and reached Safdarjang Railway Station, and from there, they boarded a train in the early morning and reached Bhatinda in the morning of August 27, 2023,” the police release read.
The police sniffed out Pannun’s involvement after he posted videos of the graffiti on social media. A team began scouring CCTV footage from the area, expanded their search to adjoining places and also studied mobile phone dumps.
On the footage, they spotted the duo taking videos on the job, while the mobile phone data also threw up Punjab numbers. A team visited Bhatinda and arrested Singh on Wednesday, the police said. Rajvinder has been detained.