NIA arrests main shooter behind Mohali RPG attack

NIA on Wednesday arrested gangster Deepak Ranga, the main shooter in the rocket-propelled grenade attack on Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali in May 2022 from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Chandigarh

In October last year, Delhi Police had arrested the first attacker, a resident of Faizabad district in UP, who was a minor. (Representational Photo)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested gangster Deepak Ranga, the main shooter in the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali in May 2022 from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Ranga, 23, a resident of Surakhpur village of Jhajjar in Haryana, who had been absconding ever since the attack, is an associate of Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu, alias Landa, and Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu, alias Rinda, said an NIA spokesperson.

In October last year, Delhi Police had arrested the first attacker, a resident of Faizabad district in UP, who was a minor.

On May 9 last year, both Ranga and the minor had hurled an RPG at the Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali leaving the portion of the building damaged.

A Punjab Police probe had established that the attack was a conspiracy of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and local gangsters.

Apart from his involvement in the May RPG attack, Ranga has been involved in a number of other violent terrorist and criminal offences, including murders. He has been actively receiving terror funds and logistical support from Rinda and Landa, according to NIA officials.

Officials said he has been actively receiving terror funds and logistical support from Rinda and Landa.

The NIA had registered the case suo motu on September 20 last year after it emerged that terrorist outfits and terror elements based abroad were operating in tandem with leaders and members of organised criminal gangs operating in northern states of the country to commit targeted killings and violent criminal acts.

It had also emerged that the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network was also engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware, such as arms, ammunition explosives, IEDs etc from across the border through a widespread inter-state network of gun runners, illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers and explosive traffickers, the NIA spokesperson said.

The NIA said since the registration of three criminal cases against the terror-gangster-drug smuggler networks, the agency has already arrested 19 leaders or members of various organised criminal gangs, two arms suppliers and a key financier connected with the network under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Canada-based Arsh Dalla has been designated as an “individual terrorist” by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 9, the spokesperson said, adding further action to dismantle the terror-gangster-smuggler nexus and infrastructure would be intensified in the near future.

A total of 10 accused have been arrested in the case by different agencies so far.