New Delhi: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Punjab has dismissed a Dubai-based Non-Resident Indian’s plea to re-investigate charges against him of funding Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and its terrorist activities in India, saying there is no legal provision to seek a fresh investigation into a case after a trial has commenced.
The special NIA court in Mohali’s Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar has observed that only the NIA can request to keep a case open for further investigation; the agency can not, however, start a fresh probe in cases already before the court.
The court was deciding a plea filed by Jasmeet Singh Hakimzada, allegedly a close associate of Harmeet Singh alias PhD, the head of the Pakistan-based outfit KLF.
The Punjab Police first cracked the case, but the NIA has since taken over the investigation. Hakimzada has remained elusive to both the NIA and the Enforcement Directorate, which began its investigation after the NIA did in 2020. Both have filed their charge sheets and obtained non-bailable warrants against Hakimzada from courts in Punjab and Delhi.
The Ministry of Home Affairs declared the KLF, which was established in 1986, a banned outfit in December 2018.
Hakimzada, along with his parents, Harmohan Singh Hakimzada and Eljeet Kaur, was declared a ‘significant foreign narcotics trafficker’ under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The OFAC alleged that his father, Harmohan Hakimzada, was his primary partner in the drug trafficking and money laundering operation. His mother, Eljeet Kaur, was said to be linked to two front companies in India after their designation in February 2019.
“Now, the first question arises as to whether the accused has any right to seek re-investigation or even further investigation under the provisions of CrPC. As per the investigating agency, the applicant is an international drug smuggler and a close associate of Harmeet Singh @ PhD (A-10), and he collects/raises funds to assist A-10 for carrying out terrorist activities of Khalistan Liberation Force in the State of Punjab as well as in India,” Special NIA Judge Dinesh Kumar Wadhwa said in the order.
The judge said that the option of further investigation has been given only to the investigative agencies, to “serve fair evidence and trial”, based on fresh materials collected during the probe.
“Hence, the accused has no right to seek re-investigation/further investigation in the matter. Even otherwise, from the plain reading of Section 173(8) of CrPC, it is evident that even the police have a right to investigate the matter further, but not a fresh investigation or re-investigation,” he further observed.
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The case against Hakimzada
The case first began in May 2019 when a team of the Amritsar rural district police nabbed three people, Jajbir Singh Samra, Harpreet Singh alias Happy, and Varinder Singh Chahal, with 500 grams of heroin on them.
The matter was then transferred to the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) of the Punjab Police, which further arrested Nirmal Singh alias Neeldhari, Satpal Singh, and Hiralal in December 2019.
The Punjab SSOC alleged that Jajbir came in contact with the self-styled chief of the KLF, Harmeet Singh alias PhD, through a WhatsApp call. Subsequently, they hatched a conspiracy, along with other accused, including Hakimzada, to trade heroin in the state and use the proceeds for activities of KLF, such as attempts to revive the wave of terrorism in the state of Punjab and the ultimate objective of establishing an independent Khalistan State, the SSOC alleged.
Following the Punjab Police’s addition of sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the Ministry of Home Affairs had ordered the NIA to take over the investigation.
The agency, in its chargesheet, alleged that Hakimzada was a Dubai-based international drug smuggler, a close associate of KLF chief Harmeet Singh. The latter allegedly raised funds to assist Harmeet Singh in KLF terrorist activities in Punjab, among other places.
The agency has alleged that Hakimzada, during his visits to Amritsar, directly contacted several money changers, such as Satpal Singh. He made them channelise his drug money through hawala channels to Dubai, it said.
According to the probe, Nirmal Singh allegedly collected drug proceeds from Jajbir and Varinder Singh before handing over the entire proceeds to Satpal Singh. The latter was running a licensed foreign exchange shop, named Chahat Selection, in Amritsar.
From Satpal Singh’s end, the proceeds were allegedly channelled through the other co-accused, Harjeet Singh alias Bagga and Parminder Pal Singh alias Bobby, before finally reaching Hakimzada in Dubai.
On his part, Hakimzada claimed to have visited India only twice with his family—in 2015 and 2018— since leaving the country in 1996. He spends most days in Dubai.
Hakimzada has claimed in his plea that he has been running the Maiwand group of companies in India and the United Arab Emirates. He claimed he had been dealing with fast-moving consumer goods, including food grains, eggs, frozen chicken, edible oils, fruit juice and concentrates, detergents, toiletries, tobacco, cigarettes, wine, and electrical appliances, such as air conditioners.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)