By Manoj Kumar Ojha
Guwahati : The UK-based head of Khalistan Liberation Force Avtar Singh Khanda,an aid to the prisoner Amritpal ( the head of Waris Punjab De )at Dibrugarh jail in upperAssam, died at Birmingham City Hospital at around 12:45 am (IST) on Thursday, sources said.
Khanda was admitted to hospital in London on Wednesday after being diagnosed with blood cancer, and he was placed on life support.
According to reports, Khanda’s body was poisoned after a clot ruptured owing to the malignancy.
After Deep Sidhu’s death, Avtar Singh Khanda trained Amritpal and promoted him as the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ in Punjab.
He was arrested in the UK for pulling down India’s national flag at the embassy in London.
Khanda, accused of training Sikh youths on how to make live bombs and handling of IEDs, was in the early stages of blood cancer.
Khanda was reportedly the head of the London unit of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and was the son of KLF terrorist Kulwant Singh Khukhrana.
Amritpal was arrested from Punjab’s Moga district on April 23. He and his associates were booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempting to murder, attacking police personnel, and creating obstructions in public servants’ lawful discharge of duty.