Indian Embassy attack: Arrested UK national had vandalised Indian flag during protest

Indian Embassy attack: Arrested UK national had vandalised Indian flag during protest

A day after arresting a UK national in connection with the violence at the Indian High Commission in London during a protest on March 22 last year, a probe conducted by the National Investigation Agency has found that he was a part of a group that had vandalised the Indian flag during a protest and was detained at Attari border last year when he was entering India to visit the Golden Temple in Punjab, it has been learnt.

On Thursday, NIA had said they had arrested a man, Inderpal Singh Gaba, a resident of Hounslow, UK, for carrying out unlawful activities during the protests that took place on March 22, 2023. The NIA has intimated the UK embassy and is likely to share with them a case file of brief facts in coming days, a source said.

“Gaba is a Sikh of Afghanistan origin who went to London in 1995 and started a grocery store. He runs three stores called Strawberry Local Group in Greater London and all his family members live there. His house in West Delhi has been leased out. Last year, he travelled from Dubai to Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib, a shrine he visits frequently. On December 9, when he was entering India via the Wagah border to visit the Golden Temple, he was caught by security agencies at the Attari border since a look out circular (LOC) was issued against him,” a source in the Central Intelligence said.

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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued LOCs against 15 people, who were identified from five video recordings of the violence. These videos were procured by an NIA team during its visit to the United Kingdom in May last year to investigate the incident and a suspected terror link involving Pakistan’s ISI. Upon the team’s return to India, NIA shared videos and photos of 45 suspects in the public domain along with an appeal to help identify them, a source said.

“In the videos, people were seen gathering outside the Indian High Commission in London and subsequently indulging in violence. Intelligence agencies gathered details about him, and in turn informed the NIA following which an LOC was issued against him. When he was detained, a team of intelligence agencies questioned him and seized his phone, from where data was extracted and analysed. Herein, they found footage of the protests in which he was seen allegedly vandalising the Indian flag, and went on to alert the NIA,” the source said.

“Gaba was released after questioning in December, but was asked to join the investigation five times in the last four months. After taking a legal opinion, it was finally decided to make his arrest on Thursday. He has been held on charges of Section 13(1) of UA (P) Act, Section 2 of the Prevention of Insult of National Honour Act and Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” the source said.

When contacted, Gaba’s advocate Satwant Singh refused to comment on the matter.

As per the NIA, the investigation has so far revealed that the incidents in London on March 19 and 22 were parts of a larger conspiracy to unleash vicious attacks on the Indian mission and its officials. “The attacks in London in March 2023 were found to be in retaliation to the action taken by Punjab Police against pro-Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh on March 18, 2023,” an NIA spokesperson said.

On March 19, 2023, the Indian High Commission in London was attacked by a group of about 50 people, who have been accused of criminal trespassing, disrespecting the Indian national flag, destruction of public property and injuring High Commission officials. The orchestrators of the attack, as per the FIR lodged by an officer of the High Commission, include Gurcharan Singh of Dal Khalsa, UK, Avtar Singh Khanda from the Khalistan Liberation Force and Jasvir Singh.

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