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Attack on High Commission in London: NIA makes first arrest

April 26, 2024 01:06 IST

In a major breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday made first arrest in a case related to the attack on the Indian High Commission in London in March last year.

IMAGE: London Metropolitan Police increases security outside the Indian High Commission, as pro-Khalistan protesters stage a demonstration in front of it, on March 22, 2023. Photograph: ANI

Inderpal Singh Gaba, a resident of Hounslow in the United Kingdom, has been arrested for carrying out unlawful activities during protests that took place on March 22, 2023, in London, a statement issued by the federal agency said, without mentioning details from where the accused was arrested.

NIA investigations in the case so far have revealed that the incidents in London on March 19 and 22 last year were part of a larger conspiracy to unleash vicious attacks on the Indian missions and its officials.

Pro-Khalistani protesters had tried to vandalise the Indian mission in London and pulled down the national flag while holding protests outside the High Commission complex on March 19.

'The attacks in London in March 2023 were found to be in retaliation to the action taken by the Punjab Police against pro-Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh on March 18, 2023,' the statement added.

Singh, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23 last year following a more than one-month-long manhunt.

Singh, the chief of 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, is currently lodged at the Dibrugarh jail in Assam along with nine of his associates.

The NIA had in June last year released five videos and sought the help of the general public in identifying individuals involved in the violent protests.

This had come after a team of the NIA visited London to get details of the case besides interacting with officials of Scotland Yard.

The federal agency took over the probe in April last year from the Special Cell of the Delhi Police which had registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act as it involved illegal activities carried out by certain people holding Indian nationality abroad.

In the London incident, the tricolour flying atop the Indian High Commission was grabbed at by a group of protesters waving separatist Khalistani flags and chanting pro-Khalistani slogans.