Punjab Police on Thursday said it has busted a terror funding module, backed by Pakistan-based Harwinder Singh Rinda, and arrested its five operatives, including a woman.
The module was operated by Parminder Pindi, who was directly in touch with gangster Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Passia, a close aide of Rinda, said director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav in a statement.
Yadav said the accused were identified as Amanpreet Walia, Ramanbir Singh, alias Fouji, Arshpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Kirandeep Kaur, all Amritsar residents.
Following a few incidents of liquor vends being targeted by means of arson or firing to extort money from liquor contractors, police teams from Batala district launched a thorough probe into the matter and identified Ramanbir among 11 accused persons as culprits behind these incidents, he said.
In the 10-day operation, police teams successfully arrested five accused persons from different locations, he added.
Batala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashwini Gotyal said an incident of attempted arson at one liquor vend in Shastri Nagar was reported on September 27, and two days later, a similar incident was reported in the district. On October 2, five shots were fired at one of the liquor vends of Amritsar, she said.
The SSP said preliminary investigations revealed that all accused persons were working on directions of local handler Parminder, who was threatening and demanding extortion for terror funding from liquor contractors. She said one of the accused persons opened fire outside the liquor vend in lieu of money.
{{/usCountry}}The SSP said preliminary investigations revealed that all accused persons were working on directions of local handler Parminder, who was threatening and demanding extortion for terror funding from liquor contractors. She said one of the accused persons opened fire outside the liquor vend in lieu of money.
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