The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has confiscated the properties owned by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, head of the banned Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) outfit, in Chandigarh and Amritsar under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
A property confiscation notice pasted outside Pannun’s residence at sector 15 in Chandigarh reads, “1/4th share of house no. #2033 Sector 15-C, Chandigarh, owned by Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, a ‘proclaimed offender’ in NIA case RC- 19/2020/NIA/DLI, stands confiscated to the state under section 33(5) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 by orders of the NIA special court, SAS Nagar, Mohali, Punjab, Dated 14/09/2023. This is for information of general public.”
A similar notice was put up on the agricultural land belonging to Gurpatwant Singh Pannu in his ancestral village Khankot in Amritsar. The central probe agency has confiscated 46 kanal of agricultural land belonging to Pannu in the village in relation to a terror case registered in 2020.
Pannu’s father Mohinder Singh Pannu was a resident of Nathu Chak village of Patti sub-division in Tarn Taran before the partition. After the partition, the family shifted to Khankot village of Amritsar.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is one of the founders of the US-based separatist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and actively lobbies for a separate state for Sikhs, which they call Khalistan, in the US, Canada and the UK.
In July 2020, Pannun was designated a terrorist by the Union home ministry and two months later, the government ordered the attachment of his properties under Section 51A of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Pannun has been running a campaign against India and motivating Sikh youngsters in his home state Punjab to join militancy.
He has been a leading organizer of the so-called Khalistan Referendum, inviting Sikhs worldwide to vote on whether Punjab should become an independent nation based on religion. He also worked closely with Canada-based Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose murder has been at the centre of the diplomatic standoff between Ottawa and New Delhi.
(With bureau inputs)
