15-yr jail to Khalistan supporter in US for plotting terror strikes
NEWYORK: A 42-year-old Indian in the US has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for plotting terror attacks in India by providing material support and resources to the Khalistan movement.
Balwinder Singh was a member of two terrorist groups and provided material support to “intimidate” the Indian government and harm persons who were not supporting the groups’ cause, said US attorney Daniel Bogden .
Singh was sentenced by US district judge Larry Hicks in Reno to 180 months in prison on Tuesday, Bogden added.
“This case is an example of multi-law enforcement agencies working together to protect the United States and our foreign allies from a terrorist act,” Bogden explained further.
Singh, who also went by the alias Jhaji and Baljit Singh, is a citizen of India and a permanent US resident. He had pleaded guilty in November last year.
According to court documents, between September and December 2013, Singh conspired with others to support terrorist attacks in India.
In October 2013, Singh and his co-conspirators agreed that one of them would travel to India and carry out a terror attack “likely an assassination or maiming of an Indian government official.”
In November 2013, Singh purchased two sets of night vision goggles and a laptop and supplied them to a co-conspirator.
The co-conspirator attempted to board a flight from the San Francisco International Airport to Bangkok in December 2013 but law enforcement prevented him. After these events, Singh continued to plan the terror attack in India until Singh’s arrest in December 2013.