A SIKH advocacy body has threatened to name the Tory ministers and MPs it says privately oppose the UK Government’s handling of a Scottish man’s detention in India.

Senior Tories who’ve veered from the government line could be identified in protest at what’s seen as Westminster inaction. The move would be deeply embarrassing for Downing Street.

In a debate last week, MPs from the SNP, Labour, Lib Dems and Democratic Unionist Party urged the UK Government to help Jagtar Singh Johal, the Sikh blogger now facing a possible death sentence due to a confession he says was extracted through torture.

The Dumbarton fitness fan, nicknamed Jaggi, went to India in 2017 for his wedding and was bundled into a van by plain clothes officers a fortnight later. He says he’s been electrocuted and heard threats that his wife was in danger and it’s feared that he may be sentenced to death for alleged involvement in an assassination plot against Hindu figures.

More than three years on without a trial, MPs backed Martin Docherty-Hughes, the Singh Johal family’s MP, in calling for the case to be considered an arbitrary detention, as with Iran detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliff.

Asia Minister Nigel Adams said Singh Johal’s situation “does remain a priority for the UK Government and it must be resolved in line with due process and without unreasonable delay” and they’ve “thoroughly considered concerns regarding arbitrary detention and the death penalty in this case”.

The Sikh Federation UK says that doesn’t square with private conversations held between senior Tories and community figures. Its general secretary Bhai Narinderjit Singh, now says he’ll name them if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) doesn’t get behind Jaggi.

Singh said: “Senior Conservative politicians have privately admitted to Sikh community representatives up and down the country that they believe Jagtar Singh Johal is held in arbitrary detention in India and the UK Government must stand up for British citizens. These include several cabinet ministers, over a half a dozen other ministers and more than 30 other Conservative MPs, including former ministers.”

He went on: “We are deeply concerned and will do all we can to protect the life of Jagtar Singh Johal as we approach the 4th anniversary of his torture and arbitrary detention on November 4, 2021. If the FCDO fail to acknowledge Jagtar is being arbitrarily detained we may on the fourth anniversary be forced to reveal the names of dozens of Conservative politicians, including ministers who are in no doubt Jagtar is being arbitrarily detained by the Indian authorities.”

In a briefing sent to UK MPs, Indian authorities accused Johal of “repeated attempts to subvert the judicial process on one or other pretext”.