LONDON: Alleged Sikh terrorist Kuldeep Singh, whose extradition to India has been rejected by the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, arrived illegally in the UK and has been living in the country for 16 years.
India is trying to extradite Singh to make him face trial for plotting a campaign of terror in Punjab, including bomb attacks and assassinations including that of former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, as well raising funds and arranging supply arms for terrorist acts, and recruiting youths for the banned terror outfit Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF).
The 44-year-old — also known as Keepa Sidhu — was born in Jalalpur Kalan village in Lohian tehsil in Jalandhar. He entered the UK illegally in 2005 and remained under the radar, undeclared to the UK authorities, until 2013, when he made a claim for leave to remain in the country on human rights grounds, court documents say. His application was refused.
In 2017 he made a subsequent application to remain in Britain, again on human rights grounds. That claim was also refused. In 2018, he then made an asylum claim. The application was treated as withdrawn on the basis that he failed to attend the asylum interview. In 2019, he submitted a further asylum claim which remains outstanding.
Following an Interpol red notice being published for Singh on October 23, 2018, and India’s extradition request being certified by the UK on July 5, 2019, Singh was arrested at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre on October 15, 2019, where he was on immigration bail.
The extradition warrant, however, was discharged after district judge Gareth Branston decided at Westminster Magistrates' Court that there was no case to answer and the evidence against him was inadmissible. India is seeking permission to appeal that decision.
In his written judgment Branston wrote: “There is no evidence that anyone was actually killed as a result of his alleged activities.”
However, a disclosure memo in the Government of India evidence alleges that Ranjit Singh Neeta, the head of the KZF, who is trying to create Khalistan in Punjab, was in contact with Singh and Neeta had met with chiefs of ISI in Lahore, where he revealed his plan was to murder the Gagneja chief of RSS.
State RSS vice-president Brigadier (retd) Jagdish Gagneja was shot at in Jalandhar on August 6, 2016 and died 47 days later.
Singh has remained in custody throughout. On September 10, 2020, Branston granted bail to Singh after hearing he had a sister in the UK who put up a sum of £25,000 as surety.
But Justice Swift revoked the bail four days later in the High Court, following an appeal from the Indian government. He said the fact that Singh entered the UK illegally and remained at large and undetected for a period of some eight years “suggests that he is a resourceful man capable of going to ground for an extended period when he chooses.”