Khalistani leader Lakhbir Singh Rode has died due to a heart attack in Pakistan, media reports said.
The 72-year-old was the self-styled chief of the banned outfits Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF).
A nephew of slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Lakhbir Singh was listed as an ‘individual terrorist’ under the UA(P)A and had fled to Pakistan, reported The Indian Express.
Confirming his death, Lakhbir Singh’s brother and former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode told the Indian newspaper: “We have been informed by the son of my brother Lakhbir Singh Rode that he died of heart attack in Pakistan and has been cremated there. He was highly diabetic. His two sons, a daughter and wife live in Canada.”
Lakhbir Singh was a native of Rode village in the Indian state of Punjab.
Initially, he fled to Dubai but later moved to Pakistan and kept his family in Canada, media reports said.
According to the Union government’s dossier on Lakhbir Singh as quoted by The Indian Express, “ISYF opened its chapters at various places in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the United States of America. Lakhbir Singh is allegedly engaged in sending weapons and explosives consignments from across the border to India to carry out terrorist activities in Punjab and to target various Very Very Important Persons (VVIPs) and political leaders.”
He was accused of hiring gangsters to carry out attacks in Punjab.
Earlier this year, the NIA confiscated a piece of land belonging to Lakhbir Singh at Kothe Gurupura village in Moga. A notice put up by the NIA said that one-fourth share in the land measuring 43 kanal 3 marlas belonging to Lakhbir Singh was being confiscated following an NIA court order, The Indian Express reported.