Terrorist Plot Interrupted: Punjab Police Act Quickly to Dismantle Planned Attack

Executive Summary

Punjab Police successfully foiled a major terror plot linked to Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives Harwinder Rinda and Lakhbir Landa, neutralizing an improvised explosive device (IED) in Tarn Taran district. Intelligence indicated the device was pushed from Pakistan for use in subversive attacks. Prompt coordination between the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) and local police prevented mass casualties. This incident is the latest in a series of BKI-linked terror activities in Punjab, which have included grenade attacks and cross-border facilitation by handlers based abroad.

Key Judgments

Key Judgment 1

BKI operatives continue to leverage Pakistan-based support networks to smuggle weapons and explosives into Punjab for targeted attacks against police and civilians.

Evidence: Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav confirmed that the recovered IED in Tarn Taran had been “pushed from Pakistan” before being intercepted during a joint AGTF–Tarn Taran Police operation (Hindustan Times).

Key Judgment 2

The Tarn Taran interdiction underscores the critical role of rapid human intelligence exploitation and inter-agency coordination in countering BKI operations.

Evidence: Acting on “credible human intelligence,” AGTF teams conducted targeted combing operations that located and neutralized the IED before it reached local BKI collaborators (Economic Times).

Analysis

The August 2025 Tarn Taran interdiction highlights both the persistent threat posed by Babbar Khalsa International and the efficacy of timely intelligence-led policing in Punjab. The recovered IED — reportedly intended for delivery to local BKI collaborators — reflects the group’s continued reliance on Pakistan-based supply lines for lethal materials.

BKI’s operational strategy has evolved into a hybrid model combining traditional militant tactics with transnational command-and-control. Operatives like Harwinder Rinda and Lakhbir Landa coordinate directly with Pakistan-based handlers, while other actors, such as Harpreet Singh “Happy” Passian in the United States, function as overseas logisticians and strategic planners. This distributed structure allows BKI to sustain attack planning even when individual cells are disrupted.

The arrest of Karanbir in July 2025 is instructive: his role in facilitating a grenade attack on a Punjab police station demonstrates how low-profile, locally embedded operatives can be leveraged for logistics and target preparation, while operational orders and funding flow from abroad. Such cases reveal the extent to which encrypted communications and diaspora networks enable BKI’s persistence despite increased domestic counterterrorism pressure.

From a defensive standpoint, the Tarn Taran case illustrates the value of integrating AGTF and district police capabilities. In this instance, actionable human intelligence was rapidly exploited, search operations were precisely targeted, and an explosive device was safely neutralized before deployment. Continued investment in such coordinated interdiction capabilities will be vital to preventing future attacks.

Sources

• Hindustan Times – Punjab Police foil BKI operatives’ terror plot, neutralise IED in Tarn Taran

• Economic Times – IED recovered in Tarn Taran; conspiracy by BKI-ISI foiled

• NDTV – Babbar Khalsa International Operative, 22, Arrested For Punjab Grenade Attack

• The Hindu – NIA conducts searches at 15 locations linked to Babbar Khalsa International in Punjab