On 17 April, 17 men of Indian-origin were arrested in California in the United States in connection with a series of violent incidents in the Northern part of the state.
The first of these incidents took place in 2018 and the latest one was a clash near a Gurdwara in Sacramento on 26 March 2023.
The investigation was carried out by multiple agencies in Northern California and was named 'Operation Broken Sword'. To know more about this Operation, the people arrested and the crimes they are accused of, read our detailed story answering these questions.
As a majority of the men arrested happen to be Sikhs, a number of Indian news channels and journalists claimed that, they were Khalistanis.
A report in News18 said that the people arrested were part of a 'diabolical business model of Pakistan-based Khalistani groups'.
In her programme 'Vantage', Firstpost's Palki Sharma focused on the arrests and warned Western countries, "Do not ignore the Khalistani problem because today they are focused on troubling India but tomorrow you could also be the victim."
Right-wing website Opindia said that two of those arrested are 'Khalistanis wanted in India for crimes'.
Youtuber Priyanka Deo Jain wrote, "Undoubtedly, arresting 17 Khalistani terrorists in California is great, but it happened only AFTER multiple incidents of violence, including 2 mass shootings. Aptly indicative of the West's BLIND EYE towards extremism for the sake of pushing a false, anti-India narrative.
To find out the truth about these allegations, The Quint reached out to the multiple agencies that were involved in the Operation Broken Sword investigations - such as the District Attorney of Sutter County, District Attorney of Sacramento and the police chief of Yuba City.
We received a categorical response from Jennifer Dupre, the District Attorney of Sutter County, who played a critical role in the entire investigation. Here's what she said.
What District Attorney Jennifer Dupre Said
In an email reply to The Quint, DA of Sutter County Jennifer Dupre said, "These men, and their groups, are NOT associated with the Khalistan movement and do NOT adhere to the Khalistani ideology" (Emphasis hers).
On being shown specific news reports from India alleging that the arrested men are pro-Khalistan, Dupre replied, "Any such reports are pure conjecture and are not based in any way on facts from our case."
In the press conference on 17 April, Dupre had said that two criminal syndicates - Minta Group and AK-47 Group - were responsible for the escalating violence. They were initially part of one group before they splintered in rival factions.
She also mentioned that two of the gangsters are wanted for crimes in India. These are Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh. You can get more details on them and their links to gangs in Punjab in our story.
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