The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an FIR against Canada-based Khalistani sympathiser Hardeep Singh Nijjar for “conspiring and planning to carry out a terror attack in India”.
The agency believes that Najjar's associates surveyed RSS gatherings at “certain places, including Punjab” with an intention of “targeting and striking terror in a section of people in the country”.
A senior official said that the probe agency is examining Nijjar's role in the killing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers in Punjab, reported India Today
“He (Nijjar) intends to execute the attack at a time and place where there is a large gathering, so that there are maximum casualties,” the FIR says.
In February 2018, Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh gave visiting Candian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a list of names of Khalistani movement sympathisers, including Nijjar, accused of supplying funds to different terror modules.
The Centre, in an FIR filed in 2016, accused Nijjar of “promoting disharmony between different groups” and “reviving terrorism in the state of Punjab.” Nijjar is accused of being a part of the militant Khalistan Tiger Force and is wanted in Ludhiana’s Shingar Cinema blast case in which killed six people and injured 32 others, according to The Tribune.
In April 2018, Candian police had taken Nijjar into custody, but released him in 24 hours' time, reported Hindustan Times. Months after the terror strike on Pathankot, intelligence agencies had intimated the Canadian authorities that Nijjar was running terror camps in Surrey, Canada.
Nijjar is reportedly a supporter of “Referendum 2020”, which calls for the secession of Punjab from India.
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