Khalistani terrorist Kashmir Singh Galwandi, only Nabha jail escapee yet to be caught, likely hiding in Nepal

The Indian Express has learnt that it was one of these persons, arrested by the NIA in Gorakhpur in January 2023, who recently revealed to interrogators that Galwandi had provided logistics support to him and his juvenile associate.

Galwandi was one of the four people accused in the attack on Harvinder Soni, the general secretary of the Punjab unit of Shiv Sena, on April 15, 2015. He was arrested along with three others and booked for attempted murder.

He and five other convicts escaped the high-security Nabha jail on November 27, 2016, after a group of gangsters dressed as policemen opened fire at security guards. He is the only escapee who has eluded capture.

Galwandi also faces an NIA case, registered in 2022, over a “conspiracy” by the Khalistan Liberation Front, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation to “wage war against the country”.

After the escape, he is learnt to have made alliances with Pakistan-based terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda and Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu, also known as Landa.

The man held for the Mohali RPG attack, Deepak Ranga, had carried it out on the orders of Rinda, sources said. Ranga was also allegedly involved in the murder of builder Sanjay Biyani in Maharashtra’s Nanded, again on Rinda’s orders.

“After committing the RPG attack and murders, Deepak along with his juvenile associate fled to Nepal where they were hiding. Rinda started giving between `75,000 and `1 lakh every month to them. But Ranga had a heated argument in Nepal with the juvenile, who came back to India. Both were arrested later,” a source said.

The NIA and other agencies examined Ranga’s transactions and found a money transfer to his account from an account belonging to Galwandi’s mother.

“Ranga was questioned by the agencies, but he was not aware of anything about the bank account and also about Kashmir Singh. But he identified him when a photograph of Kashmir Singh was shown to him. He disclosed that he has changed his look and his identity… he was the one who provided all logistics support to them and used to come to meet them after every ten days, but did not disclose his real identity with them,” said the source, citing Ranga’s interrogation report.

The NIA in 2023 announced a reward of `10 lakh for information leading to Galwandi’s arrest.

“Ranga was initially associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and had allegedly committed two murders on the directions of Bishnoi, but he did not get the exact amount that was promised by him. Bishnoi later connected Ranga with his associate Goldy Brar. A few months later, Goldy connected Deepak with Landa and Rinda,” the source said.

In 2023, a Punjab court sentenced 22 convicts involved in the Nabha jailbreak to terms ranging from three years to 20 years in prison.