Arrest of ISI-backed terrorists prevented major terror attack: Punjab DGP
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 May, 2022 10:01 AM
Chandigarh, May 5 (IANS) Describing the arrest of four Pakistan's ISI-backed terrorists and preventing a major terror attack as a well coordinated operation, Punjab Police on Thursday said they successfully averted a possible terrorist attack.
However, police officials refuted claims of attempts by the ISI to revive terrorism in the state, saying such acts were part of its nefarious designs.
The arrested accused were identified as Gurpreet Singh, Amandeep Singh and Parminder Singh, residents of Vinjoke village in Zira, Ferozepur; and Bhupinder Singh of Bhatian village in Ludhiana.
They were arrested at Karnal in Haryana by the state police following inputs from the Punjab police.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab V.K. Bhawra told the media here that a Central agency earlier shared an input that some suspects, who may be carrying explosive material and weapons are moving in the border districts of Fazilka and Ferozepur.
Subsequent to this input, police teams led by Commandant Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh and SHO (Fazilka) Satinderdeep Singh Brar along with teams from the Central agency were on a manhunt on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday to nab these suspects, he said.
The teams had jointly identified suspected locations in the districts of Ferozepur, Fazilka, Faridkot and SAS Nagar.
The DGP said the suspects were found to be moving in the area of Ferozepur and later they started going in a white Innova vehicle DL1VB7869 towards Ludhiana.
"The suspects took the national highway and started moving towards Ambala, when acting promptly, Punjab Police shared the development with Haryana Police, which managed to intercept the vehicle in Karnal and arrested the accused persons with IEDs," the DGP told IANS.
During preliminary interrogation, the accused have revealed that they were working for Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harwinder Singh, alias Rinda.
Rinda, a notorious gangster active in Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Haryana, is a history-sheeter and is wanted by the Punjab Police in heinous crimes, including murder, contract killing, robbery, extortion and snatching.
On Wednesday, The Prime Minister's rally in Ferozepur had to be cancelled due to a security lapse after some protesters blocked a route and forced his convoy to spend about 20 minutes on a flyover. The Prime Minister was enroute the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala when the incident happened.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, tied his wife Ranjan Devi and son Vaibhav to the bed and set them on fire at his house in Mayurwa locality, which comes under the Triveniganj police station.
