3 Sikhs For Justice men arrested for writing pro-Khalistan slogans: Punjab Police

Those arrested were identified as Gogi Singh from Jeewan Singh Wala village in Bathinda, Johny from Jeon Singh Wala village in Talwandi Sabo and Pritpal Singh from Doad village in Faridkot.

Pro-Khalistan slogans were found written on the walls of the District Administrative Complex and the District Court Complex in Bathinda on April 24. Later, similar slogans were found written at Delhi’s Jhandewalan and Karol Bagh metro stations on May 9.

One of the arrested men, Pritpal Singh, was earlier held for writing graffiti at a Delhi Metro station during the G20 summit and at the Bathinda thermal plant.

DGP Yadav said that Gogi Singh was a key SFJ operative, and was in direct contact with SFJ chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and carried out the act on his directions in lieu of money. He had also sent photos or videos of the slogans written on the walls, the police chief said. Yadav added that the police had also recovered three mobile phones, two dongle devices, an Aadhaar card and an ATM card from him.

The New York-based SFJ has been designated as an unlawful association by the Indian government.

SSP Deepak Pareek said that following technical leads, the Bathinda police managed to arrest Johny, who revealed that he and Gogi Singh had attempted to write slogans at different places in the district. Gogi was subsequently arrested in a joint operation, he added.

AIG (counter-intelligence, Bathinda) Avneet Kaur Sidhu said that Gogi, who was earlier arrested in an Excise Act case, had met Pritpal Singh in Bathinda jail and remained in touch with him after coming out of the jail.

Sidhu added that Pritpal had introduced Gogi Singh to Pannun, who assigned the task of writing Khalistani slogans to Gogi and told him to collect Rs 50,000 kept hidden at Muktsar Kotkapura Road.