E-Paper
Amritsar IED seizure: Accused held while trying to flee to Dubai
Police have arrested one more accused while he was trying to leave the country, in the Amritsar IED seizure case. The arrested accused has been identified as Satnam Singh, alias Honey of Patti in Tarn Taran
The police have arrested one more accused while he was trying to leave the country, in the Amritsar improvised explosive device (IED) seizure case.
The arrested accused, identified as Satnam Singh, alias Honey of Patti in Tarn Taran district, had allegedly provided a motorcycle to the accused who was arrested earlier for planting an IED under a Punjab Police sub-inspector’s (SI) SUV in Amritsar in August.
The IED was planted at the behest of Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, who is wanted in more than a dozen criminal cases. Landa is also a prime conspirator in the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack at the Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali.
Director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said Honey was in direct contact with Landa and executing the tasks on ground assigned by him.
The development came a day after the arrest of main perpetrator, identified as Yuvraj Sabharwal, alias Yash, who along with Deepak (arrested) of Patti village in Tarn Taran, had planted the IED under the SUV Bolero (PB02-CK-0800) of SI Dilbag Singh parked outside his residence in the area of C-Block Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar on August 16, 2022.
Yadav said that following a specific intelligence that Satnam Honey was trying to flee to Dubai on a visa arranged by Lakhbir Landa, a team from State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), SAS Nagar, arrested him.
The DGP said that according to preliminary investigations, Satnam Honey came in contact with Lakhbir Landa at a marriage of their mutual friend Malkeet Singh, alias Laddu of Patti in Tarn Taran in 2015. Later in 2021 while Satnam Honey, while working as a conductor for transporting of grains in a local grain market, got closely associated with Malkeet Laddu, who was then president of Truck Union, Patti.
He said that Satnam Honey’s name was also figured in a murder case, wherein, Amandeep Singh, alias Fauji, and Parabhdeep Singh, alias Pooran, were murdered by gangster Preet Sekhon at the behest of Lakhbir Landa at Dargah of Baba Baluh Shah, Patti, in May 2021. In this case Malkeet Laddu, Sumer Singh, alias Billa, got arrested, while Satnam Honey and Gauravdeep Singh, alias Gauri, were nominated due to their close association with Malkeet Laddu, he added.
The DGP said that Satnam Honey was working as an associate of Lakhbir Landa and on his directions, Honey handled many consignments of militant hardware of Landa’s and for which Honey was paid with handsome amount of money on at least six occasions and he was promised by Landa that he will immigrate to Canada via Dubai,” he said.
Investigations revealed that till date, Honey had received/handled an amount of approximately ₹4 lakhs, an IED, two pistols and 20 live rounds at the behest of Landa on different occasions and for separate operations.
Meanwhile, six more persons, who were arrested for providing logistic, technical and financial support in this case, have been identified as dismissed constable Harpal Singh and Fatehdeep Singh, both residents of Sabra village in Tarn Taran; Rajinder Kumar, alias Bau, of Harike in Tarn Taran; Khushalbir Singh, alias Chittu, Varinder Singh, alias Abu, and Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, all residents of Bhikhiwind.
