NIA searches 18 locations in Punjab, Haryana, UP over grenade attack at ex minister Manoranjan Kalia's house
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday searched 18 locations across Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as part of their investigation into the alleged Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)-linked grenade attack at the residence of former Punjab minister and senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia.
According to an NIA statement, the searches were conducted on the premises of suspects linked with BKI operative Kulbir Sidhu, US-based gangster Manish, alias Kaka Rana, and their nodes based in India and various other countries. The agency seized various incriminating materials, including mobile/digital devices and documents, it added.
The statement said agency officials also searched the residence of YouTuber and digital content creator Sukhveer Khipal in Budhlada town of Mansa district for his alleged links with Pakistan-based suspects. Khipal, who lives in Chandigarh. He was not available at his Budhlada residence when the NIA team reached there. The NIA team spoke with his family, demanded his mobile phone, and directed them to send Khipal to the NIA Chandigarh office for questioning, it said.
Mansa SSP Bagirath Singh Meena confirmed that the NIA team searched Khipal's residence. Khipal has 1.07 lakh followers on Instagram.
Kulbir Sidhu, originally from Yamunanagar in Haryana, is currently in Germany and is a key aide of designated terrorist and BKI chief Pakistan-based Wadhawa Singh Babbar, the NIA said, adding that Sidhu is also an accused in the case related to the murder of VHP leader Vikas Prabhakar in Nangal, Punjab, in April 2024.
The terror attack on the Punjab former minister's house in Jalandhar was committed on the night of April 7 allegedly by Saidul Ameen, who was arrested by the state police on April 12. This was one of a series of grenade attacks carried out by BKI operatives in Punjab on the directions of foreign-based handlers of the proscribed terrorist organisation, the NIA said.
In Punjab, the agency searched several locations in Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Mansa districts. In Haryana, searches were conducted in Kurukshetra, Yamuna Nagar, Karnal and Ambala districts. Extensive searches were also conducted in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh.
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