Juvenile apprehended in Mohali RPG attack case
A 17-year-old boy has been apprehended for his alleged role in the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali in May; he had also been tasked with “killing” actor Salman Khan by the Bishnoi-Bhagwanpuria syndicate; a 23-year-old man nabbed with him
A 17-year-old boy has been apprehended for his alleged role in the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali in May, Delhi Police special cell said on Friday.
Police said they have also arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with recovery of an improvised explosive device (IED) in Haryana in August. Police said the teenager along with another person – Deepak Surakhpur who is yet to be arrested – had fired the RPG.
The juvenile was also wanted in the murder of builder Sanjay Biyani, which took place on April 5 in Nanded, Maharashtra, and the murder of gangster Rana Kandowalia, outside a private hospital in Amritsar on August 4, 2021.
Special commissioner of police (special cell) HGS Dhaliwal said the teenager, along with one Surakpur and Monu Dagar (arrested last year), had also been tasked to eliminate actor Salman Khan by Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria syndicate. Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria are in jail but continue to run their criminal activities from behind bars.
Along with the teenager, Delhi police said they have arrested Arshdeep Singh, 23, a resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab, who was involved in an incident wherein an IED was recovered from Haryana’s Kurukshetra on August 4. Singh is involved in two cases -- one reported in Punjab’s Tarn Taran on charges of Arms and NDPS Act and another, under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Kurukshetra in connection with the IED recovery. The two were held from Gujarat’s Jamnagar, police said.
On May 9, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali. During investigation, police learnt the attack was a conspiracy of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and local gangsters. It was also established that the attack was orchestrated by “gangster-turned-ISI stooge” Harvinder Singh alias Rinda. Another fugitive, Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Landa had joined hands with Rinda in sharing of manpower, logistics and resources, police said.
A few days into the incident, Punjab Police had arrested six persons who allegedly provided logistical support and resources. The six were Nishan Singh, Jagdeep Singh Kang, Kanwarjit Singh alias Kanwar Bath, Baljinder Singh alias Rambo, Baljit Kaur alias Sukhi and Anant Deep Singh alias Sonu. But the juvenile accused was yet to be apprehended.
How the juvenile got into the world of crime
Police said that the minor is a resident of Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. Detailing how the teenager from UP had come in touch with the Punjab gangsters, a police official, said, “Sometime in 2020, Deepak Surakhpur was involved in the murder of Sonu Shah, a property dealer who was shot dead in Chandigarh. After the murder, Lawrence Bishnoi sent him (Surakhpur) to a hideout in eastern UP where he met this minor who was around 15 years old at the time.”
Until then, the teenager was a school drop-out who had gone rogue but had no previous criminal involvement.
But after coming in contact with Deepak Surakhpur, his journey into the world of crime began, the officer added.
“With the apprehension of the juvenile and arrest of Singh, the nexus between Rinda and Landa has been exposed. While the juvenile was being handled by Rinda, Arshdeep was being handled by Landa,” Dhaliwal said.
