Activist Rattandeep Singh believed to be latest Indian State murder victim

Rattandeep Singh (49, from Haryana) was shot dead last week in Nawanshahr (Punjab), in what many believe is India’s latest killing of a Khalistan (free Sikh homeland) activist.

Unidentified gunmen shot Rattandeep Singh several times on the evening of 3rd April. The news was immediately reported across Indian media and celebrated by various Indian nationalists. Rattandeep Singh was accused by India of being part of the Sikh resistance, most active against India’s Sikh genocide in the 90s.

Rattandeep Singh was a known affiliate of Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the Pakistan based Khalistan figure who was shot dead last year in May by “unknown gunmen”. A Guardian newspaper investigation last week confirmed what Sikh groups said since the shooting; that the Indian State was responsible for the killing of Panjwar. After leaving India to escape State persecution for his advocacy for Sikh sovereignty in 1999, Rattandeep Singh spent years living with Panjwar, whilst he also for times lived in Thailand, Belgium and Germany for periods.

In 2014 Rattandeep Singh was caught back in India and imprisoned again. However, by 2017 he was acquitted on all terror-related charges in a sign of yet more fabricated cases put against Sikhs. By 2019 Rattandeep Singh was completely free, having spent remaining years imprisoned on a non-terror related charge. He was still prevented from leaving the country though, which is partly why he regularly spoke (often on social media) about his life being under threat from the Indian State.

The murder came just a day before the Guardian broke their story, which sourced Indian and Pakistan intelligence agencies to confirm a “Taliban affiliate” was used to kill Panjway, part of an Indian State campaign using Islamic extremists groups – including ISIS – to target Khalistan activists.

Read more on the Guardian revelations here: Groundbreaking media revelation: India used ISIS to assassinate Sikhs | SikhPA

The murder is being linked to a local gangster. Many believe such criminals are paid to carry out the Indian State’s dirty work.

The killing comes as Canadian and US authorities continue investigations on India’s anti-Sikh transnational repression campaign, with view to prosecute Indian State terrorists targeting the respective nations’ Sikh communities. The actions of the North American governments are based on the assassination of Khalistan figure Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Canada, killed in Surrey 2023) and the attempted assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (New York, 2023).

Meanwhile, UK authorities are accused of ignoring the suspected murder via poisoning of Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda last year in June in Birmingham.