West Midlands terror cops visit India over politician murder
Dec 26 2010 by Tony Larner, Sunday Mercury
ANTI-terror detectives have arrived in India to collect evidence against four British Sikhs arrested in the Midlands on suspicion of shooting dead a controversial high-profile Indian politician.
Rulda Singh
Rulda Singh, 62, a prominent member of India’s main opposition party the BJP, was gunned down outside his home in Patiala in the Punjab in July, 2009.
Indian police immediately named two British Sikhs as prime suspects and claimed a banned Sikh militant group based in the Midlands was behind the killing.
West Midlands Police’s counter-terrorism unit officers met with Punjabi investigators last April and later raided addresses in Smethwick, Coventry and Wolverhampton where they arrested four men, aged between 27 and 36.
The men were all later released on bail but the latest trip to India by British detectives suggests that the suspects will likely be charged and stand trial in a court in the UK.
Punjab cops have confirmed that an eight-member team led by Detective Superintendent George Tracy from West Midland Police’s counter-terrorism unit, arrived in India last week.
The UK officers had been divided into separate groups and each group was collecting evidence, with one visiting the scene of Rulda Singh’s killing in Patiala to take witness statements.
Mr Singh was shot seven times in his abdomen and head by two or three armed assailants on a motorbike outside his shop in the Punjab town. He died two weeks later in hospital.
The politician was leader of the Sikh wing of an extreme Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He had travelled across the globe, including the UK, in an effort to woo overseas Sikhs to the party.
http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/m...-india-over-politician-murder-66331-27882975/
Dec 26 2010 by Tony Larner, Sunday Mercury
ANTI-terror detectives have arrived in India to collect evidence against four British Sikhs arrested in the Midlands on suspicion of shooting dead a controversial high-profile Indian politician.
Rulda Singh
Rulda Singh, 62, a prominent member of India’s main opposition party the BJP, was gunned down outside his home in Patiala in the Punjab in July, 2009.
Indian police immediately named two British Sikhs as prime suspects and claimed a banned Sikh militant group based in the Midlands was behind the killing.
West Midlands Police’s counter-terrorism unit officers met with Punjabi investigators last April and later raided addresses in Smethwick, Coventry and Wolverhampton where they arrested four men, aged between 27 and 36.
The men were all later released on bail but the latest trip to India by British detectives suggests that the suspects will likely be charged and stand trial in a court in the UK.
Punjab cops have confirmed that an eight-member team led by Detective Superintendent George Tracy from West Midland Police’s counter-terrorism unit, arrived in India last week.
The UK officers had been divided into separate groups and each group was collecting evidence, with one visiting the scene of Rulda Singh’s killing in Patiala to take witness statements.
Mr Singh was shot seven times in his abdomen and head by two or three armed assailants on a motorbike outside his shop in the Punjab town. He died two weeks later in hospital.
The politician was leader of the Sikh wing of an extreme Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He had travelled across the globe, including the UK, in an effort to woo overseas Sikhs to the party.
http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/m...-india-over-politician-murder-66331-27882975/
