The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out raids in 14 locations in Punjab and Haryana in connection to the attacks on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, United States of America on 19th March and 2nd July 2023.
In a statement, NIA informed the locations raided were spread across the districts of Moga, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Mohali and Patiala in Punjab, and Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in Haryana and that digital data containing information related to the accused persons, along with other incriminating documents have been seized during the searches.
The raids are part of the agency’s investigation to identify and prosecute the assailants who attacked the Consulate General of India and other officials in San Francisco, committed criminal trespass, damaged public property, and attempted to set the Consulate building on fire by sprinkling inflammable.
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The agency also stated that it has already identified certain individuals, both Indian nationals and foreigners, who were part of the conspiracy behind the repeated attacks and that an NIA team had also visited San Francisco to probe. As part of its investigations, NIA has crowd sourced information to identify and collect information about US-based entities and individuals involved in these violent incidents, NIA added.
On 19th March, a group of pro-Khalistan protestors barged through barricades set up by San Francisco Police and installed two so-called Khalistan flags inside the Indian consulate.
Later, on 2nd July, following the death of Canada-based Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the supporters attempted to commit arson. Nijjar, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, was shot dead outside a Gurudwara in Canada on 18th June.
Following this, the Dr S Jaishankar, India’s Minister of External Affairs urged partners countries such as Cananda, the US and the UK not to give space to “extremist Khalistan ideology” as it is not good for relations.
