A Scottish Sikh man detained in India for seven years on terror charges has been cleared in one of nine cases against him.
Jagtar Singh Johal from Dumbarton was arrested in 2017 in the country’s northern Punjab region weeks after his wedding there.
He has been held in prison ever since, on trial for his alleged role in a series of targeted killings of religious and political figures.
Now a verdict in the District Court in Moga, Punjab, has acquitted him of conspiracy under the country’s anti-terror law and of being a member of a “terrorist gang”.
His legal team say the allegations against Mr Johal in all the cases, for which he faces the death penalty, are close to identical and that the other charges should now be dismissed.
His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal has called on the UK government to secure the 38-year-old’s release.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) welcomed the progress in the case.
“The UK government remains committed to working for faster progress on Jagtar’s case, and the FCDO continue to work to support Mr Johal and his family,” it said.
Mr Johal was accused of being a member of a terror group, the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), which has carried out attacks in the Punjab region.
The charges against him stated that he travelled to Paris in 2013 and delivered £3,000 to other KLF figures, with the money then used to purchase weapons which were used in a series of murders and attacks against Hindu nationalist and other religious leaders across 2016 and 2017.
His supporters say that in early November 2017, shortly after his wedding, Mr Johal was snatched from the street and driven away by plain clothes officers of the Punjab Police.
They say that in the days following his arrest he was tortured and coerced into signing a false confession to participation in the killings.
