950815

India seeks

Sikh leader

seized in US

WASHINGTON: India is seeking the return of Daya Singh Sandhu, a suspected Sikh separatist guerrilla leader arrested in the United States early this month, an Indian embassy official said on Monday.

"The Indian police would be very much interested in getting hold of him," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He referred to Sandhu, 33, as one of India's most-wanted alleged terrorists.

Sandhu was identified by the official as leader of the Khalistan Liberation Force, which is fighting to set up an independent Sikh homeland in the northern state of Punjab.

He was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) agents in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 3 and faces deportation hearings as an illegal alien, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said on Friday.

Sandhu has been charged with visa fraud. Also arrested on immigration charges were Kamaljeet Kaur, 25, Sandhu's wife; and Pinder Brar, 32, a Canadian immigrant and citizen of India. A six-year-old boy, Sandhu and Kaur's son, is in protective custody, Meissner said.

Sandhu is being held without bond by the INS, an arm of the Justice Department, pending deportation hearings. Bond for Kamaljeet Kaur was set at $50,000.

Sandhu is suspected of involvement in political kidnappings and arms trafficking in India. He is also wanted in connection with a bus bombing that killed eight people and injured 29, Indian officials told the U.S. authorities.-Reuter