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The Gujarat police have registered an FIR against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the chief of banned outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), for threatening to turn the Cricket World Cup, starting on October 5 at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, into "World Terror Cup", an official said on Friday.
In the first information report (FIR), the cyber crime branch of the Ahmedabad police said people from across the country have received Pannun's threat via a pre-recorded voice message sent from a foreign number.
The complaint filed by sub-inspector H N Prajapati of the Ahmedabad cyber crime branch, said it has come to their notice that many people received a pre-recorded threat voice message from the phone number +447418343648.
Many recipients of the threat message reported it to the police through various mediums, the FIR said.
"The pre-recorded message, which plays after the mobile phone user picks up the call, said October 5 would not be the start of the Cricket World Cup but the beginning of ’World Terror Cup'. Sikhs for Justice is going to storm Ahmedabad with Khalistani flags," informed Assistant Commissioner of Police Jitu Yadav of the Ahmedabad cyber crime branch quoting the FIR.
"We are going to take revenge for Shaheed Nijjar's assassination. We are going to use ballots against your bullets. We are going to use vote against your violence. Remember 5th October, it will not be the World Cricket Cup, it will be beginning of World Terror Cup... message from Gurpatwant Singh Pannun," said the FIR quoting the transcribed message.
As per the FIR, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is designated as a terrorist by the Government of India and is running an organisation called Sikhs for Justice from a foreign country.
Pannun is trying to spread fear, create enmity between Sikhs and other communities and indulge in terror activities in the country, and earlier too he had indulged in such nefarious activities, especially on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the FIR added.
The Cricket World Cup 2023 will begin at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi stadium on October 5.
Pannu and his unidentified associates, who spread this voice message, were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 121-A (conspiring to wage war against the state) 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc) and 153B (making statements promoting disharmony between different groups), the police said.
They were also booked under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, said ACP Yadav.
"Since the inaugural cricket match will take place in Ahmedabad, mostly city residents received that call two days ago. Once you pick up, that pre-recorded message is heard. No one has been arrested yet. Since Pannu is a foreign national, we will initiate a legal process prescribed by the Union government to secure his custody. We will also seek help from Central agencies," Yadav told reporters.
Notably, such messages by the pro-Khalistan group, threatening to storm the stadium in Ahmedabad, were released in March too ahead of the India-Australia cricket match there, said Yadav.
At that time, the cyber crime branch had arrested seven persons from different parts of the country for alleged involvement in sending such pre-recorded messages in bulk using a device called 'simbox', said Yadav.
He said though the latest call appears to be made from a foreign country (United Kingdom, as the code is +44), the technical team of the cyber crime branch is working on identifying the exact source of the calls as the accused might be using Internet call technology to show that the calls are international.
The threat message from Pannun comes amid a diplomatic stand-off between India and Canada over the killing of designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Surrey in the western Canadian province of British Columbia on June 18.