Avtar Singh Khanda, close aide of radical preacher Amritpal Singh and who headed the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terror outfit in London died in Sandwell hospital in Birmingham on Thursday.
The cause of his death is unknown. Reportedly, he was suffering from blood cancer and was admitted to the hospital a fortnight ago.
However, speculations are rife over the cause of his death. The Khalistanis are trying to make it look like an assassination to reignite sentiments, said sources with Intelligence.
According to inputs from the UK, the supporters of Khanda want the medical report to indicate poisoning so that they can declare him a martyr and blame the Indian security agencies for murder, Hindustan Times reported.
Khanda, the key orchestrator of the March 19 violence at the Indian High Commission in London, was under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) lens. NIA is awaiting medical records to confirm the cause of death.
Khanda allegedly held the key to the trans-national Khalistan conspiracy that led to the rise of Amritpal Singh and culminated in violent acts in Punjab. He is also learnt to have connection with banned pro-Khalistan outfits in different countries.
Seeking freedom for Amritpal, on March 19, pro-Khalistan protestors vandalised the Indian High Commission in London and pulled down the national flag. The Ministry of Home Affairs had directed the Delhi police to take legal action on the reports of the Ministry of External Affairs over the incident. FIR named Avtar Singh Khanda, Gurcharan Singh, and Jasvir Singh as key suspects.
Later, the NIA took over the case from the Delhi police which registered an FIR on March 23 on the basis of a complaint filed with its special cell against the violent acts in which two officials of the of the Indian High Commission in London sustained injuries.
NIA had identified Khanda as the principal accused in the March 19 violence.
Khanda was reportedly an asylum seeker in the UK and over the years he has been instrumental in radicalising youth. He is also learnt to be providing training to them.
