Who is gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa, designated a ‘terrorist’ by MHA?

Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa has been designated an “individual terrorist” by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The 33-year-old, a leader of Khalistani group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), has become the 55th individual to be identified as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias ‘Landa’ has been accused of several crimes in India. According to the MHA, he planned the rocket attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali in 2022 and has also played a role in other terrorist activities.

Who is the “dreaded” gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa? Why has MHA designated him a terrorist? Let’s take a closer look.

Who is Lakhbir Singh Landa?

Born in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district in 1989, Landa has more than 30 cases registered against him in various districts of the state, according to ThePrint.

He fled to Canada years back and is currently based in currently based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Landa is believed to have close ties to Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, a gangster based in Pakistan, reported Hindustan Times (HT). The names of both the gangsters featured in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) list of five pro-Khalistan BKI operatives in September, with the federal agency announcing cash rewards for information leading to their arrest.

Landa has been on the NIA radar for some time now.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) today declared a cash reward of Rs 15 lakh against absconding terror accused Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa. A resident of Harike village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, Landa is currently residing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. pic.twitter.com/hBQraympFO

— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2023

Speaking to ThePrint at the time, Lakhbir Singh’s aged parents said their son got involved in heroin smuggling when he was 16 and after that everything changed. They said he escaped to Canada in 2016 and has not stayed in touch with them since then.

However, they claim he was “a pure soul who was led down the path of crime by bad company and powerful local leaders”. “They made an innocent boy a gangster,” his mother told ThePrint.

The first case against Landa was filed in July 2011 under the Arms Act at Harike Pattan for an alleged murder attempt. Dozens of cases have since been registered against him. Before he fled to Canada, the Punjab Police booked him for an alleged kidnapping in Moga in May 2016, reported HT.

Landa’s name still evokes fear in his hometown of Harike, located in the border district of Tarn Taran city. Residents of the town told ThePrint that they still get extortion calls in the gangster’s name. According to the digital outlet’s police sources, Landa’s gang remains active in Harike, with the gangster running it from Canada.

“A lot of people receive threatening phone calls, and allege that the call came from Lakhbir Singh. However, local criminal elements sometimes tend to extort money in the name of dreaded gangsters,” a senior officer was quoted as saying by ThePrint.

As per The Quint, Landa is believed to have been inactive between 2016 and 2020 as he was trying to run a legal business in Canada for some time.

He was back in the limelight after the 2021 Patti double murder case in Punjab. Aman Fauji and Prabhjit Singh, considered close to Gurmukh Singh Ghulla – an aide of ex-Patti MLA Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, were killed in May of that year. One of the arrested people in the case reportedly confessed the murders were carried out on the order of Landa, according to The Quint.

ALSO READ: What is the stringent law UAPA?

MHA’s charges against Lakhbir Singh Landa

A notification issued by the MHA on Friday (29 December) said Landa was involved in the terror attack through Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) on the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali on 9 May last year.

Landa has been “involved in supply of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), arms, sophisticated weapons, explosives from across the border to various modules for carrying out terrorist activities in Punjab”, the notification read.

It mentioned a Look Out Circular was issued against the gangster in June 2021. “… the Central government believes that Landa is involved in terrorism and he is to be added as a terrorist,” the MHA stated.

Canada-based Babbar Khalsa’s Lakhbir Singh Landa declared a terrorist by Ministry of Home Affairs. pic.twitter.com/iz2eNhpxyt

— ANI (@ANI) December 30, 2023

He is accused of planting an IED below the car of a police sub-inspector in Amritsar, reported Indian Express.

The gangster has been involved in “various criminal cases related to raising of terror modules, extortion, killings, planting IEDs, smuggling of weapons and narcotics and using funds or proceeds thereof for terrorist acts in Punjab and other parts of the country,” as per the notification.

Landa is believed to have a role in targeted killings and other anti-national activities in several parts of India.

The gangster and his associates have been “conspiring to disrupt the peace, law and order in Punjab by carrying out targeted killings, extortions and other anti-national activities in different parts of India,” the notification added.

With inputs from agencies

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