Amritpal Singh’s close aide and Khalistan sympathiser Avtar Singh Khanda dies in UK

Avtar Singh Khanda, a close aide of Amritpal Singh and the face of the protests at the Indian High Commission in London, died today in the UK. Khanda was the chief of the UK-based terrorist group Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). Also known as Ranjodh Singh, he was a political asylum seeker in the UK and had played a major role in radicalising Sikh youth towards the separatist movement.

Khanda was suffering from blood cancer and took his last breath at the Sandwell Hospital in Birmingham. He was admitted to the hospital around a fourth night back.

According to reports, Khanda's supporters want the medical report to indicate that he was killed by poison so that they can blame the Indian security establishment for the murder. Some reports also claimed that he was put on life support on Wednesday and his death was a result of a clot burst due to cancer. 

Khanda's father was a KLF terrorist who was shot down by the security forces in 1991 while his mother has also been related to a KLF terrorist with strong links to a Pakistani deep state called Gurjant Singh Budhsigwala. 

National Investigating Agency had identified Khanda along with three others as the main miscreants behind the violent protest outside the Indian mission in London. He has also been credited with grooming Amritpal Singh and taking the position of ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief after Deep Sidhu's death. Some reports had earlier claimed that Khanda is an expert in making improvised explosive devices or IEDs and even gives demonstrations of bomb-making in some gurudwaras in the UK.

Meanwhile, Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab police in Moga district on 23 March and charged with crimes relating to disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servant.