Punjab Police busts terror module; 4 arrested

A terrorist module in Punjab has been busted with the arrest of four youth, including a woman, who were planning to indulge in large-scale violence and targeted killings, police said on Tuesday.

"On the radar of these highly radicalised youth were (Congress leaders) Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, as well as those responsible for incidents of sacrilege/desecration,"a Punjab Police spokesperson said here.

The terror module was operating under the banner of 'Khalistan Zindabad' to fan communal violence in the sensitive border state, the spokesperson said.

"These arrests have come close on the heels of the apprehension of five other members of the group, who were nabbed on May 26 from Bathinda district," he added.

"The youth had come together to form the group - Khalistan Zindabad - after being radicalised over the Facebook and other social media platforms by certain individuals based in Pakistan, various Middle Eastern countries and the Britain," the spokesperson said.

Working in close collaboration with their handlers and associates based in India and abroad, the youth were in the process of mobilisation of funds, procurement of militant hardware, such as weapons, and arranging training for its members, when the Mohali police swooped on them in an intelligence operation spread over May 29 and 30, he added.

The four suspects have been booked under various sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Arms Act, and Indian Penal Code (IPC). They have been remanded in police custody for seven days.

Those arrested include Harbarinder Singh of Amritsar district (presently residing in Sector 44, Chandigarh), Amritpal Kaur of Ludhiana district, Jarnail Singh and Randeep Singh, both from Gurdaspur district.

"While Harbarinder and Amritpal were nabbed from the Mohali bus stand on May 29, Jarnail and Randeep were arrested on May 30 from Gurdaspur and Ludhiana respectively," the spokesperson said.

Police have seized two pistols of .32 bore (with four magazines and five live rounds) from the four youth.

Those arrested earlier included Tarsem Singh Khalistani of Rampura Phul, Mohkam Singh Babbar of Barnala, Manjit Singh of Barnala, Jaswant Singh and Jasbir Singh, both from Bathinda.

"Police investigations revealed that these weapons were to be used at an opportune time to carry out killings of those accused for sacrilege/desecration and leaders/members of socio-religious organisations in Punjab," he said, adding further investigations are in progress to unravel the entire conspiracy and network of operatives based in India and abroad.

--IANS

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