New Delhi [India]: The investigation trail into a recent drug bust in New Zealand’s Auckland revealed that the suspect held on drug peddling charges is a relative of former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin, according to sources.
New Zealand Police had in March this year conducted a raid at a local property in Manukau, a suburb of South Auckland and seized a shipment of kombucha bottles among pallets of drug-laced beer cans. According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, the New Zealand Police said that Auckland City’s Organised Crime Unit had been investigating the shipment which resulted in a search warrant executed in Ryan Place, Manukau in early March. It said officers had identified 328kgs of methamphetamine concealed in beer cans.
A police investigation led to the arrest of one Baltej Singh, who is the nephew of Satwant Singh. Satwant Singh and fellow bodyguard Beant Singh assassinated Indira Gandhi in October 1984 in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar.
Satwant Singh’s brother and his family had relocated to New Zealand in the 1980s and set up a small grocery store in Auckland. Local gurdwaras often hailed Baltej for being the nephew of Satwant Singh.
A sudden increase in the wealth of Singhs came to the notice of people close to them. Baltej Singh’s father, who is Satwant Singh’s brother, became the proprietor of a real estate firm named Ray White. They also bought a house valued more than Rs 100 crore.
Sources told media that Baltej Singh is known to be one of the primary masterminds and fundraisers for anti-India and pro-Khalistan demonstrations organised in New Zealand.
Baltej Singh is currently imprisoned and is undergoing trial for drug peddling.
According to sources, the incident underscores the “criminal background and dubious motivations” of pro-Khalistan demonstrators. It also highlights the role of “overseas support in attempts to tarnish the image of a progressive India.”
