Court Declares Canada-Based Terrorist Lakhbir Singh Landa As Absconder, Orders Seizure Of Associates’ Properties

New Delhi: A special court in Mohali has declared Lakhbir Singh Landa, a terrorist hiding in Canada, as an absconder and ordered the confiscation of his associates' properties. Landa is the chief of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), a banned outfit that seeks to create a separate Sikh state in India. The court issued the proclamation order against Landa after he failed to appear before it despite repeated summons.

The court also directed the authorities to initiate the process of attaching the movable and immovable assets of his accomplices, who are facing charges of sedition, conspiracy, and unlawful activities. Landa was recently declared a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

According to sources, he is currently hiding in Canada, where he has been operating the KZF and its affiliates. He is also accused of being involved in several terror attacks and conspiracies in India, including the 2018 grenade blast at a Nirankari gathering in Amritsar that killed three people and injured 20 others.

Who Is Lakhbir Singh Landa?

Earlier in December, 20203, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) designated Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa as a terrorist. According to an official release by the MHA, 34-year-old Landa, son of Niranjan Singh and Parminder Kaur, has a permanent residence at VP0 Harike in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab, bordering Pakistan.

Under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Mt. 1967 (37 of 1967), "Clause (a) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 35 of the said Act empowers the central government to add the name of an individual in the Fourth Schedule to the said Act if it believes that he is involved in terrorism", the MHA said in a statement on Friday.

Landa currently resides in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta in Canada, and is a member of Babbar Khalsa International.  According to the MHA, Babbar Khalsa International is listed as a terrorist organisation as per "number I of the First Schedule to the said Act."

Landa was backed by the cross-border agency and was involved in the terror attack through a shoulder-mounted rocket-propelled grenade on the building of Punjab's State Intelligence Headquarters at Mohali, the MHA added.

The gangster-turned-terrorist, who has been living in Canada since 2017, is the mastermind in several cases of terrorism, including the 2022 RPG attacks on the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters and the Sarhali police station in Punjab, among other cases of terror attacks in India, the National Investigation Agency stated earlier.

In August this year, the Special Court of the NIA ordered the confiscation of the property of the absconding pro-Khalistan terrorist at Kirian village in the Tarn Taran district.