A British national, Jagtar Singh Johal, in police custody for over seven years on March 4, 2024 was acquitted in an alleged terror funding case registered by Punjab Police in 2016. The court of Moga Additional Sessions Judge gave accused Johal, Taljeet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Dharaminder, Hardeep Singh, Anil Kumar, Jagtar Singh, and Tarlok Singh the benefit of the doubt due to irregularities in the laid-down procedures for prosecution under anti-terror laws.
The Moga court of Additional Sessions Judge Harjeet Singh acquitted Jagtar Johal and seven others in the alleged terror funding case while convicting three of them for weapon recovery. The ninth accused, Harminder Singh Mintu, a member of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), died during the trial.
However, the court, in its 97-page judgment, stated that the “prosecution has failed to prove its case against all accused beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt.”
“The prosecution has failed to prove its case against all the accused beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt under Sections 17, 18, 19, 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and 120-B, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC. It is settled law that the benefit of doubt always goes to the accused,” ordered the court while acquitting Johal, Taljeet Singh (Jimmy), Ramandeep Singh (Bagga), Dharminder (Gugni), Hardeep Singh (Bhalwan/Shera), Anil Kumar (Kala), Jagjit Singh (Jaggi), and Tarlok Singh (Laadi) of the charges framed against them under the IPC and UAPA.
However, Taljeet, Ramandeep, and Hardeep have been convicted under Section 25 of the Arms Act for the alleged possession of weapons and have been awarded two years of rigorous imprisonment.
Pointing out the shoddy probe by the police, the court said, “A material part of the investigation was conducted by an inspector-rank officer, which was against the mandatory provision that no police officer below the rank of a deputy superintendent of police or a police officer of an equivalent rank shall investigate the offence.”
It is to be noted that Johal is unlikely to walk out of jail as he is still facing trials in several other anti-terror cases. Johal was arrested in November 2017 and has been in jail since then.
Notably, in custody since November 2017, Johal is also named in eight other cases of alleged terror activities, including six murders related to a series of targeted killings that happened in Punjab from April 2016 to October 2017, including the murder of then Sah-Sanghchalak of Punjab RSS, (Retd.) Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja.
The killings are being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Johal is currently lodged in a jail in Delhi and attended the court hearing via video conferencing on March 4.
The case was registered at Baghapurana police station under the sections of the IPC, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Arms Act on December 17, 2016, against Johal and others after the police recovered a 9mm pistol and cartridges following the interrogation of Tarlok Singh alias Laddi, who was then in jail in the alleged murder case of Dera follower Gurdev Singh of Bajakhana, Faridkot.
During the investigation, the police had claimed that Johal had visited France several times to “fund terrorism activities” in Punjab. The police further claimed that Johal was in touch with Khalistani extremists to create unrest in Punjab, including Mintu and others based in Pakistan, such as Lakhbir Singh Rode and Harmeet Singh PhD, and also gangster Dharminder alias Gugni.
The police, in its chargesheet, had claimed that Johal had admitted to meeting Harminder Singh alias Mintu (now deceased), then chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), in France and giving him £3,000. Mintu allegedly provided £800 for procuring weapons used in targeted killings in Punjab.
It is to be noted that, on the evening of August 6, 2016, Jagdish Gagneja was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants who had muffled their faces while he was at the Red Cross Market area of Jalandhar. He breathed his last at Dayanand Medical Hospital in Ludhiana on September 22, 2016, after battling for his life for about seven weeks.
A swayamsevak since childhood, Gagneja received his education in Bathinda and after completing his studies, he joined the artillery division of the Indian Army in 1971. He enhanced the glory of the army by participating in various military operations over more than three decades. After retiring in 2006, he settled in Jalandhar and dedicated himself to the national cause through the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
During the investigation, the NIA found that the killing of Brig. (Retd.) Jagdish Kumar Gagneja was part of a transnational conspiracy hatched by the senior leadership of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF).
In 2019, three years after the brutal shooting of Jagdish Gagneja, the NIA filed a charge sheet against 11 accused persons in the case at the NIA Special Court in Mohali. Brig. (Retd.) Jagdish Kumar Gagneja was the Sah-Sanghchalak of the RSS in Punjab Prant.
In 2019, the NIA further stated that all the targeted persons belonged to specific communities and organisations and the objective of the conspiracy was to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive terrorism in the state.
How the Transnational Conspiracy Operated
The NIA investigations found that the conspiracy had its footprints in several countries, including Pakistan, the UK, Australia, France, Italy, and the UAE. As part of the conspiracy, large amounts of funds were supplied from Italy, Australia, and the UK to the perpetrators of the killings, namely Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh. These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings as well as for other logistics.
The conspiracy included the recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy and Dubai, UAE, respectively. The NIA charge sheet states that Hardeep Singh is a permanent resident of Italy, while Ramandeep Singh belongs to Ludhiana. Both were trained by Gursharanbir Singh, a UK national. Another UK national, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been arrested in the case, was involved in funding the conspiracy. Day-to-day coordination of the conspiracy was done by Pakistan-based Harmeet Singh.
A total of eight other terror cases are pending against Johal in the NIA court, Delhi, including six pertaining to targeted killings in 2016-17. These include the murders of RSS member Jagdish Gagneja (in Jalandhar) and Ravinder Gosain (in Ludhiana), the double murder of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Satpal and his son Ramesh (in Khanna), and the killings of Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad, church pastor Sultan Masih, and Hindu Takht leader Amit Sharma (all in Ludhiana).
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