Lucknow, Jan 21 (IANS): Shankar Lal Dussad, arrested along with his two aides while doing ‘recce’ in Ayodhya initially tried to mislead the cops by posing as a follower of Lord Ram.

The man allegedly having Khalistan links had installed a saffron flag on his SUV, said ATS officials.

Dussad and his two aides, Ajit Kumar Sharma and Pradeep Puniya, were intercepted on Wednesday night.

ATS inspector Gyanendra Pratap Singh, while narrating the sequence of events in an FIR registered against the trio at the ATS police station in Lucknow, said, “During interrogation, he reiterated that he came for darshan of Ram Lalla as he is a big follower of Shri Ram. Dussad was brought to UP ATS headquarters in Lucknow on Thursday morning and interrogated in the afternoon. But he kept repeating the same thing.”

He said FIR against was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 121-A (conspiracy to commit offence), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing anything), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

The official said Dussad confessed to his tainted background as well as his links with Canada-based Khalistani terrorist Gurupatwant Singh Pannu through other Canada-based arms smugglers Lakhwinder Singh Landa and Sukhwinder Singh Sukkha.

He said Dussad was in regular touch with Landa and others through chat applications and internet calls to take orders from them.

ATS officials said that Dussad was released on bail from Central Jail, Bikaner on May 15, 2023, after spending over seven years since March 21, 2016.

They said Dussad forged links with Khalistani groups while staying in Bikaner jail when he met a prisoner Lakhbinder Singh who asked him to meet his nephew Pumma through whom he came in touch with Canada-based Khalistani leader Sukhbinder Singh Sukkha.