- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The case was filed against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the chief of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), an outfit banned in India.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE police in the western Indian state of Gujarat have registered a first-information report (FIR) against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the chief of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) for threatening to turn the upcoming cricket World Cup, starting on October 5 at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad in the state, into “World Terror Cup”, an official said on Friday (29).
The SFJ was banned by the Indian government in 2019.
In the FIR, the cyber-crime branch of the Ahmedabad Police said that people from across the country have received the US-based Pannun’s threat via a pre-recorded voice message sent from a foreign phone number.
The complaint filed by sub-inspector H N Prajapati of the cyber-crime branch said that it has come to their notice that many people received a pre-recorded threat voice message from the phone number 447418343648.
Many recipients of the threat message reported it to the police through various mediums, the FIR said.
The pre-recorded message said that October 5 would not be the start of the Cricket World Cup but the beginning of “World Terror Cup”. Shikhs for Justice is going to storm Ahmedabad with Khalistani flags, it said.
“We are going to take revenge of Shaheed Nijjar’s assassination. We are going to use ballots against your bullets. We are going to use vote against your violence. Remember 5th October, it will not be be World Cricket Cup it will be beginning of World Terror Cup… message from Gurpatwant Singh Pannun,” said the FIR quoting the transcribed message.
According to the FIR, “Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a designated as a terrorist by the Government of India and is running an organisation called Sikhs for Justice from a foreign country.”.
Pannun is trying to spread fear, create enmity between Sikhs and other communities of the country and indulge in terror activities in the country, said the FIR, adding that earlier too, he had indulged in such nefarious activities, especially on the social media platform Twitter, now X.
The mega cricket tournament will kick off with a match between defending champions England and New Zealand.
The threat message from Pannun comes amid a diplomatic stand-off between India and Canada over the alleged assassination of Khalistan separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in the western Canadian province of British Columbia on June 18.
(With PTI inputs)
