The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday charge sheeted 10 accused, including Canada-based terrorist Goldy Brar, in an extortion case in Chandigarh.
Two of the charge-sheeted accused, including Brar, are absconding, the NIA said in a statement.
Brar has been named as the key conspirator in the case and has been charged with the formation of a terror gang to execute terror activities in India, it said.
His close associate, Gurpreet Singh alias Goldy Dhillon, also absconding, has been charged as a co-conspirator in the case, the probe agency said.
The attack on the businessman’s house in Chandigarh had taken place on January 19 this year when Brar's aides had opened fire at the victim’s house.
"Satinderjit Singh alias Goldy Brar had earlier demanded extortion money from the businessman," the NIA said.
Brar and Dhillon had recruited the arrested accused persons in their terror gang, as per the NIA investigations, which found that Brar was running a major terror-extortion-narco network through his India-based associates.
The associates were involved in the procurement/smuggling of arms and ammunition, sale-purchase of narcotics, channelisation of proceeds of narcotics, conducting recces and subsequent attacks on Brar’s targets etc., the investigations have further revealed.
The NIA, which had taken over the case from the Chandigarh Police on March 8, 2024, found that the accused had conspired to target affluent businessmen in Punjab, Chandigarh and other states of India.
Following Brar’s modus operandi, refusal by businessmen to pay up would lead to physical attacks/ firing etc. at their houses, the NIA said.
Besides Brar and Dhillon alias Goldy Rajpura, the other charge sheeted accused have been identified as Gurvinder Singh alias Laddy, Kashi Singh alias Harry, Shubham Kumar Giri alias Pandit, Amritpal Singh alias Gujjar, Kamalpreet Singh, Prem Singh, Sarbjeet Singh alias Sarbu and Gagandeep Singh alias Goldy.
The charge sheet was filed before a special NIA court here against all the 10 accused, the statement said.