Who is Arsh Dalla, the Khalistani separatist arrested by Canadian Police?

The Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) had, on October 29, said that it had arrested two men on charges of “discharging firearm with intent” after the duo had come to a hospital and one of them was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot and later discharged from a hospital in Guelph.

HRPS did not disclose their identities, stating that the accused “were held in custody pending a bail hearing”.

The Indian Express had contacted the Milton police, which declined to reveal the names of the two individuals in custody.

Dalla is on the list of the most wanted terrorists in India and has been charged in various cases of targeted killings and extortion. The Indian authorities say they had informed their Canadian counterparts about his location in March this year.

Who is Arsh Dalla?

The NIA had designated 27-year-old Arsh Dala as an individual terrorist in 2023. He started off as a small-time gangster in Moga, Punjab, before fleeing to Canada in 2018. There, he came in contact with Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar and began collaborating with him.

The Globe and Mail has described Dalla as a plumber in Surrey who frequented the Guru Nanak Darbar gurdwara, where Nijjar was the president.

The paper, unable to reach him, had reported: “He’s [Dalla] recently toned down his flashy lifestyle and gone into hiding, according to his family, but occasionally surfaces to give interviews to Indian media, often discussing his rivalry with other gangs.”

An NIA chargesheet filed in July 2023 alleges that Dalla used his connections in Punjab to form a “terrorist gang”. “He, along with Nijjar, raised funds through extortion and targeted killings of businessmen and leaders from specific communities in Punjab,” states the chargesheet.

Sources within the agency, which has been issuing red corner notices against his gang members, had noted an ongoing conflict between Dalla and the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. This rivalry reportedly escalated in December 2023, as numerous Indian-origin business owners in Canada began reporting extortion calls and threats.

Originally from Dala village in Moga, he was declared a designated terrorist by the Government of India in 2023 for his involvement in targeted killings, extortion, and terror activities. He allegedly conspired with other gang members to fund the KTF’s terror activities through killings and extortion.

Wire-transfer records and WhatsApp messages filed in the NIA court reveal that Dala, along with his wife, transferred large sums of money via Western Union and other services to men allegedly involved in an extortion and weapons-smuggling network.

The NIA’s chargesheet details how Dala’s “terrorist gang” created a network to evade detection, using the ‘dead drop’ technique. It describes instances where executioners in India were recruited by a gang member in one country, managed by another person in a different country, and funded by an operative in yet another country.

Additionally, they communicated through encrypted applications such as WhatsApp, Wire, Zangi, and Facebook Messenger. The chargesheet notes that these terrorist-gangsters used various social media profiles for recruitment, radicalisation, claiming responsibility for sensational killings, and propaganda. These profiles, managed by handlers abroad, were used to establish contact with old acquaintances, small-time criminals, potential recruits, and extortion targets.

Punjab police also issued a look-out notice against Dalla, with then-CM Amarinder Singh handing over a list of Khalistani terrorists to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2018.

Punjab police had said that in June 2020, Dalla visited India and recruited a man to kill gangster Sukha Lamme by injecting him with poison in an abandoned house in Moga.

In January last year, Dalla and his father Charanjit Singh were booked by Ludhiana rural police for the alleged murder of Paramjit Singh, an electrician from Bardeke village, who was shot dead inside his house. In a purported Facebook post, Dalla claimed responsibility for this murder.

Last year, Dalla’s brother Baldeep, who was out on bail in a murder case, managed to flee abroad using fake papers. His father Charanjit Singh is currently lodged in the Faridkot jail.