By Dev Raj
Patna: Heightened security along the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar, in the wake of the India–Pakistan conflict and Operation Sindoor, paid off on Sunday as the Bihar Police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Khalistani terrorist Kashmir Singh Galwaddi, alias Balbir Singh, in a joint operation in East Champaran district.
Galwaddi was arrested from the Town police station area in Motihari, which serves as the district headquarters of East Champaran. “Our police officers and an NIA team conducted a joint operation in the Town police station area and arrested Galwaddi. He is a big catch and was wanted in several cases. The NIA had declared a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head,” East Champaran Superintendent of Police (SP) Swarn Prabhat told ETV Bharat.
Prabhat added that various central and state agencies were interrogating Galwaddi. They are also trying to find out why he entered Bihar at a time when the country is facing a war-like situation.
The Khalistani separatist is a member of the banned outfit Babbar Khalsa International. He escaped from Nabha Jail in Punjab in 2016 along with several other inmates and later shifted his base to Nepal. From there, he was involved in several terror activities, including a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali in May 2022.
The NIA had registered a case (37/2022/NIA/DLI) against him on August 20, 2022 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, and various sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC), including section 121 (waging a war, attempting to wage a war, or abetting to wage a war) against the Government of India.
Sources in the police said that Galwaddi was using different identities in Nepal and kept switching locations to avoid detection.
