Vienna gurdwara attack suspects identified: Police

H S Rao
Vienna/London, May 29 (PTI) All six accused in the
violent attack on a gurdwara in Vienna that left one top
leader of an India-based Sikh sect dead and another injured
have been identified as illegal immigrants, police said
Friday, days after the incident sparked riots across India's
northern states of Punjab and Haryana.

Police spokesman Michael Takacs said all the six were
in custody, including the mastermind who was in coma in a
hospital after he was shot in the head during the Sunday
attack.

The attack was clearly pre-planned, Takacs said.

According to police, the suspects were illegal
immigrants, including 24-year-old S Charanjit from northern
state of Uttar Pradesh and 33-year-old S Hardeep. The two had
reached Austria illegally in 2001 and 2008 respectively.

28-year-old S Sukhwinder from Haryana came to Vienna
in 2001 and sought asylum citing a family feud for fleeing
India while 34-year-old S Jaspal came in 2008 and requested
asylum on religious grounds.

The other two suspects, 28-year-old S Satwinder from
Uttar Pradesh and 45-year-old S Tarsum from western state of
Gujarat made only vague asylum claims.

Sant Rama Nand, 57, the deputy head of the 'Dera
Sachkhand Ballan', had succumbed to his injuries received
during the clash between the two rival groups of Sikh
worshippers that also left 17 people injured, including the
sect's head Sant Niranjan Dass, 68.

Dass is recovering in a hospital from the bullet
wounds he sustained in the abdomen and hip.

The Austrian police is investigating reports that a
group known as Khalistan Zindabad Force had claimed
responsibility for the attack, Takacs said.

About 400 people were at the service when the fight
broke out in the gurdwara at Pelzgasse, which was opened in
December 2005 in the Austrian capital.

Punjab witnessed large-scale violence after followers
of Dera Sachkhand Ballan took to the streets on Sunday night
in protest against the attack on their leaders in the Vienna
gurdwara. Haryana also witnessed violent protests. PTI HSR
PMR