Ahead of I-Day, Punjab Police bust ISI-backed terror module
Hand grenades, IED, pistols, ammo recovered; were tasked by Canada-based gangster Dala to execute criminal activities in Delhi Punjab; four arrested accused were hiding in Delhi’s Goyla Khurd area
Thwarting a possible attack around Independence Day, Punjab Police busted a Pakistan ISI-backed terror module with the arrest of four members having links with Canada-based gangsters.
Police have recovered three P-86 hand-grenades, an improvised explosive device (IED) and two 9mm pistols along with 40 live cartridges from their possession.
Those arrested have been identified as Deepak Sharma of Preet Nagar in Moga; Sandeep Singh of Kotkaror Kalan village in Ferozepur; Sunny Dagar of Ishapur village in Najafgarh in Delhi; and Vipin Jakhar, a resident of Goyla Khurd in New Delhi, where all of them were taking shelter.
Informing this on Sunday, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the accused were associated with Canada-based gangster Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala and Australia-based gangster Gurjant Singh alias Janta. “They were apprehended from Delhi during an intel-led operation carried out by the counter-intelligence unit of Punjab Police with the help of Delhi Police,” he added.
This is the third such module of cross-border smuggling of arms and explosives that has been busted by the Punjab Police in less than a week.
‘Had intel about presence in Delhi’
The DGP further said that following inputs that associates of Arsh Dala are being harboured by Vipin Jakhar at his accommodation in Goyla Khurd village in New Delhi, teams of Punjab Police’s state special operation cell, Mohali, along with Dwarka Police conducted a raid at their premises on Friday, and managed to arrest them after recovering two 9mm pistols (foreign-made) along with 40 live cartridges.
“Working on the leads obtained during the questioning of arrested persons, police teams also recovered an IED and three hand-grenades on Saturday from locations in Punjab,” he said, adding that the arrested accused also revealed that they were tasked by Arsh Dala to execute criminal activities in Delhi and Punjab ahead of Independence Day.
The investigations so far revealed that Deepak Sharma, a history-sheeter, was wanted by the Punjab Police in two cases, including the murder of Moga-based Jaswinder Singh alias Jassi, in March 2022 and firing at the house of a panchayat secretary of Dala village, Moga, in June 2022, the DG said.
Sandeep, who recently came back to India from Dubai, had provided logistic support to Deepak to carry out firing at the house of the panchayat secretary.
He said that the accused Sunny Dagar, who was out on parole, is an active member of Neeraj Bawana gang and Tillu Tajpuriya gang, active in Delhi-NCR region, and has been facing various cases of heinous crimes including murder, attempt-to-murder, extortion and theft.
Dagar was providing hideouts to Deepak and Sandeep Singh in Delhi and nearby areas, while, accused Vipin Jakhar was providing financial and logistical support, and involved in facilitating the movement of the accused from one hideout to the other, he added.
Police have also taken remand of five days of all arrested persons after producing them at the Mohali court on Saturday.
Process on to extradite gangster Dala
According to DGP Yadav, Punjab Police has initiated the process to extradite gangster Arsh Dala from Canada and will soon be brought to India. A red corner notice against Arsh Dala had been issued against him in the month of May.
Canada-based Dala, a native of Dala village in Moga, is a notorious gangster involved in various criminal activities in Punjab and abroad, and is in the most wanted list of Punjab Police. His involvement had also emerged in various targeted killings that took place in the state, besides, in cases of arms supply, including RDX, IEDs, AK-47 etc, to modules in the state after getting them imported from Pakistan.
