Khalistani terrorist Avtar Singh Khanda, handler of Amritpal Singh, dies in London

Khalistani terrorist Avtar Singh Khanda, who was suffering from blood cancer, reportedly died in London on Thursday, June 15.

The cause of the death of Khanda, the chief of UK-based Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and the main handler of Khalistani figurehead Amritpal Singh, is disputed.

While reports said that the cause of his death was cancer, his supporters claimed that he died of poisoning. A medical report from Sandwell hospital, where he died, is awaited.

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Who was Avtar Singh Khanda?

A bomb expert, Khanda was the mastermind behind the pulling down of the Indian flag during an anti-India demonstration outside the UK High Commission in London on March 19.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had identified Khanda and three other separatists as the principal accused in connection with the incident.

Khanda is the son of slain KLF terrorist Kulwant Singh. He went to the UK in 2007 on a study visa before he took asylum there in 2012.

Soon after entering the UK, Khanda rode over the separatist bandwagon through some of key gurdwaras in the UK. These gurdwaras are managed by Khalistani supporters and, despite being the places of worship, are used to collect funds for terrorism in the name of human rights violations against the Sikh community in India.

Khanda was purportedly heading the KLF outfit under the code name 'Ranjodh Singh' after the killing of erstwhile KLF chief Harmeet Singh in Pakistan in January 2020.

Indian agencies have said that Khanda radicalised and trained susceptible youth in extremist and separatist ideology.

His name was in the list handed over to the British government in 2015 for conspiring against India. However, successive British governments allowed him to live in Britain on political asylum.

Khanda pulled the strings of separatism from UK

According to an India Today report, Khanda is believed to have played a key role in establishing Amritpal Singh as the chief of Waris Punjab De after the death of Deep Sidhu.

Also watch |India: Fugitive separatist Amritpal Singh arrested by Punjab Police

Amritpal Singh, who was on the run for 37 days, surrendered before the police at a gurdwara in Punjab's Moga on April 23.

He was shifted to Assam's Dibrugarh jail, where eight of his aides, including Papalpreet Singh, are being held under the National Security Act.

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