Interpol red corner notice sought against Pannun

DGP Kundu says a chargesheet will be filed against SFJ’s Pannun soon

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh Police will get a red-corner notice issued by Interpol against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, counsel general of pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), director general of police Sanjay Kundu said in a press statement on Monday.

He said in the past, misleading and threatening messages were received on the mobile phones and social media accounts belonging to journalists and public representatives through modern communication tools.

In the last week of July 2021, Kundu said, Pannun had sent a a minute-long recorded message to some people, wherein he had threatened to obstruct the hoisting of the national flag in the state on August 15, the Independence Day. In another similar message, the government was held responsible for the antifarmer laws and people of Himachal were warned to stay at home on August 15. The DGP said they had registered a case under various sections of the IPC, UAPA and IT Act.The audio messages were analysed by the spectrum forensic science laboratory, Junga, in which the suspicious voice was found to be that of Pannun, said the DGP. He said an analysis of the internet protocol address during the investigation had also revealed that these messages were transmitted from the USA using a web application.

“A red corner notice is being issued by the police against Gurpatwant Singh Pannu with the help of Interpol and soon, legal proceedings will be initiated and a chargesheet will be filed against him in court,” he added.

Himachal CM takes up matter with central govt

A day after Khalistani flags were found hung at the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha gate in Dharamshala, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said the state has discussed the matter with the Centre and more intel is being gathered.

“The government has taken the incident seriously. Earlier, they were only issuing threats but now they have executed their plans,” said Thakur while interacting with media in Shimla on Monday. “We have raised this issue with the central government,” he added.