The government is contemplating sending a team of the National Investigation Agency to Mumbai to speak to Lt. Gen. K.S. Brar (Retd), who faced a deadly attack in London by suspected Khalistani terrorists.
The Union home ministry has asked the NIA, tasked to handle special cases concerning national security, to look into the matter.
Government officials said NIA officers may visit Lt. Gen. Brar in Mumbai soon to collect facts of the case and gather description of the attackers.
The NIA recently registered a case against Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) charging the Sikh terror outfit of providing funds for reviving militancy in Punjab. Fifteen members of the BKI have been identified by the police forces who are currently on the run.
The NIA wants to gather more evidence against the absconding accused and unearth the BKI terror network which it believes has the backing of Pakistan’s ISI. The NIA is also examining role of some Canada and Germany-based NGOs in aiding BKI in its efforts to revive itself.
Lt. Gen. Brar, who led Operation Bluestar in 1984, was attacked by four men in Central London earlier this week. The British police on Wednesday confirmed that the attack on Lt. Gen. Brar was an “attempted murder' and described the four attackers as of Asian appearance with long beards.
While the MHA has so far not named any terror outfit behind the attack on Lt. Gen. Brar, the NIA is keen to examine if the banned outfit has a hand in it.
The activities of the BKI and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) have been noticed both in India and abroad keeping the security agencies on their toes.
Intelligence inputs indicate BKI chief Wadhawa Singh is making efforts to de-stabilise Punjab and revive militancy. Agencies are also examining inputs suggesting the role of Jagtar Tara, one of the three assassins of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh who is absconding following his escape from a Chandigarh jail in 2004, as the mastermind behind the attack on Lt. Gen. Brar.