New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency raided several places in Punjab and Haryana Wednesday and seized incriminating documents related to the attacks on the Indian consulate in San Francisco earlier this year.
The probe agency said it searched 14 premises in the two states, including in Moga, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Mohali and Patiala in Punjab, and Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in Haryana.
The San Francisco consulate was vandalised twice this year – on 19 March and 2 July – by Sikh extremists, whom the NIA has accused of arson, criminal trespass, vandalism, damage to public property and attempts to cause hurt to consulate officials.
Protests and breach of security by Sikh separatists have also been reported from outside Indian diplomatic missions in Britain and Canada in recent months.
The probe agency said Wednesday’s crackdown led to the seizure of “digital data containing information related to the accused persons, along with other incriminating documents”.
The NIA said it had crowd-sourced information to identify and collect details about US-based entities allegedly involved in these violent incidents.
The probe agency said it had already identified “certain individuals who were part of the conspiracy behind the repeated attacks”. “These include the attackers and many of their associates, who are both Indian and foreign nationals,” the agency said. It added that the aim was to send “a strong message to such anti-Indian elements”.
An NIA team had visited San Francisco in August to gather more information about the attacks, which had frightened consulate staff and the community, it said.
The United States had condemned the vandalism against the Indian consulate in San Francisco, saying violence against diplomatic facilities or foreign diplomats in America was a criminal offence. It did not, however, name Sikh extremists.
In September, the NIA had released photographs of 10 men wanted in the vandalism of the Indian consulate in March.
Raising pro-Khalistan slogans, Sikh separatists broke the makeshift security barriers and installed two so-called Khalistani flags inside the consulate premises that day. Two consulate personnel soon removed these flags.
A purported video of the 2 July attack had the words “Violence Begets Violence” emblazoned over it, and also showed news articles related to the death of Canada-based Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief and wanted terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar was gunned down outside a Vancouver gurdwara on 18 June and his death has led to a bitter diplomatic falling out between India and Canada.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a potential link between Indian agents and Nijjar’s killing, a claim India rejected as “absurd and motivated”.
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