January 3rd 2025.
The city of Bhubaneswar is facing a new challenge as the Odisha police are struggling to ensure security for the upcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. This was brought to light after a threatening email was sent by Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on Friday. The email, along with a video, was addressed to local journalist Akshay Kumar Sahoo and warned of disrupting the event.
In the email, Bhubaneswar was referred to as a "terror city" and the event was labeled as "Pravasi Bharatiya Terror Divas". Sahoo explained that the email accused the event of being a platform used by India to further its agenda of espionage and targeted violence against Pro Khalistan Sikhs. He also shared that the email claimed the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was using the event as a recruitment hub for their agents and operatives. This, according to the email, would normalize India's international campaign of repression against pro-Khalistanis and pose a threat to the presence of Khalistani referendum activists worldwide.
Sahoo further revealed that the email urged the identification of key individuals supporting the Khalistani movement across countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, and the US. The email then suggested carrying out assassinations and establishing international advocacy for Khalistan. The email also specifically targeted India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, alleging that RAW agents were operating under the guise of Indian embassy officials and targeting Sikh leaders and activists.
The email, which was received by Sahoo at 7:02 am on Friday, also included a 2-minute 36-second video where Pannun, the sender, referred to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the "face of terror" and accused him of authorizing transnational violations against pro-Khalistan Sikhs. The email concluded by urging all registered Khalistanis to disrupt the event and thwart RAW's efforts to build a spy network. This is reportedly the third email sent by Pannun to Sahoo in the past month, with previous ones threatening to disrupt the law and order situation in the city during the All-India DGP/IGP conference on November 28 and December 1.
Upon investigation, the Crime Branch was able to trace the location of the email sender to the United States and Canada. It was also discovered that a Virtual Private Network was used to send the email.
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