NIA files charge sheets in murder cases of Amit Sharma and Pastor Sultan Masih

PATIALA: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed charge sheets in the Amit Sharma and Pastor Sultan Masih murder cases in the special NIA court of Anshul Berry at Mohali.
The investigating agency has sought the discharge of Taljit Singh alias Jimmy claiming no evidence had emerged against him during the investigations. In its charge sheet in regard to the Ravinder Gosain murder case that was filed before the same court on May 4, the NIA had requested that Jimmy be discharged of all the charges.

The agency has chargesheeted 11 others including British National Jagtar Singh Johal under Sections 302, 34, 379, 416 and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 16, 17, 18, 18A, 18B, 20, 21 and 23 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act. Other than Jagtar Singh Johal, 10 who have been named in the charge sheet include Hardeep Singh Shera, Ramandeep Singh Bagga, Pahar Singh, Dharminder Singh Gugni, Anil Kala, Parvez, Malook, Amaninder Singh, Ravipal Singh and Manpreet Singh under

The NIA claimed that the four others including Harmeet Singh alias PhD, who is an ISI-backed pro-Khalistan activist operating from Lahore in Pakistan, Gursharanbir Singh, a British national based in Coventry, UK, who was involved in the killing of Rulda Singh, President of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, Punjab, in July 2009, Gurjinder Singh Shastri, a resident of Brescia in Italy and Gurjant Singh, another pro-Khalistan UK-based terrorist be declared proclaimed offenders in the case.

Confirming the development NIA’s lawyer Surinder Kumar said that charge sheets in the remaining cases of targeted killings would also be filed in the next few days. He said the charges against the accused remain the same as mentioned in the first charge sheet that had been filed by the NIA in Ravinder Gosain case.

Johal’s defence counsel Jaspal Singh Manjhpur said the charge sheet was presented before the court in his absence and they would be getting the copies of the same during the next date of hearings which have been fixed on May 21, 22 and 23.

In its charge sheet, the NIA told the court that it would be putting up 172 witnesses for examination during the trial. Most of the witnesses listed by NIA are police officials who investigated the targeted killings before the investigations were handed over to the NIA, besides, bankers and staffers of forex companies through which money was transferred from foreign countries to the accounts of the local contacts have also been put on the list of witnesses.