Gurpatwant Singh Pannun emerged on Indian intel agencies' radar in 2015

Sikhs For Justice counsel Gurupatwant Singh Pannun, whose murder the US justice department alleged was planned by an Indian with links to a central government official, first came under the scanner of Indian security agencies in 2015. This was when he started raising 'Referendum 2020' among Sikh diasporas. Around the same time, there was revival of pro-Khalistan elements in Punjab, with gangs allegedly involved in extortion and killing of religious and political leaders.

Pannnun, along with other pro-Khalistan groups, was at the forefront of propaganda on social media, following which the home ministry in 2019 banned SFJ and a year later designated Pannun as a terrorist under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. After the DoJ indictment of an Indian national, the foreign ministry, however, announced the setting up of a committee to probe the allegations.

The National Investigation Agency registered the first FIR against him before designating him as an individual terrorist in 2020. The second was registered against him under UAPA, following the 2020 farmers' protest. NIA examined several protesters in the case as witnesses in January 2021. An NIA court last September ordered seizure of two properties belonging to Pannun in Amritsar and Chandigarh, under UAPA.


Based on the UAPA cases and ban on SFJ, NIA last year sought red-corner notices against him. However, Interpol sent back the request citing lack of cooperation by member countries. The recent incidents of Pannun threatening Air India led to a fresh FIR this month. So far, the agency has registered three FIRs against the SFJ chief. The group was earlier involved in incidents like pulling down of the Tricolour at the Indian high commission in London and threatening to storm the Narendra Modi Stadium during the India-Australia test match. In 2021, following blasts in a court in Ludhiana, there was a flood of pro-Khalistan posts on X originating from India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

"After 2015, there have been increasing attempts by Pakistan-based state and non-state actors, and remnants of militancy based in the US, UK, Canada and Europe to destabilise Punjab. It has gained momentum in the past three years by collaborating with organised crime gangs and fugitive terrorists forming nexus with gangsters. The nexus has been supported by a narco-trafficking network in the state that provided weapons from Pakistan through cross-border smuggling," according to a Union home ministry official.

Several agencies meet every week to take down online posts by Pannun on major social media platforms.