LUCKNOW Pro-Khalistan sympathisers, who provided shelter to three alleged Khalistani terrorists gunned down in an encounter in Pilibhit on Monday, are on the radar of the UP ATS and the National Investigation Agency, said officials on Thursday.
Security agencies are trying to expose the existing nexus of pro-Khalistan supporters in the Terai belt, including Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly and Badaun. This region comprising a large population of Sikhs is said to be a safe haven for extremists. In June, an alert was sounded when posters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who led the Khalistan movement, and other separatists were put up outside gurudwaras in Pilibhit and Bareilly.
The STF had gunned down three alleged terrorists, who were involved in a grenade attack on a police outpost in Gurdaspur district of Punjab on December 18, and recovered two AK rifles and two Glock pistols, along with a huge cache of ammunition.
SP (Pilibhit) Avinash Pandey said the three deceased - Gurwinder Singh, 25, Virendra Singh alias Ravi, 23, Jasan Preet Singh alias Pratap Singh, 18, of Gurdaspur - had stayed in a hotel on Puranpur highway on fake identity cards. Gurwinder presented IDs that mentioned him as Manjeet Singh, Virendra as Kuldeep Singh and Jasan Preet Singh as Heera Singh. The trio was shown as residents of Aadarsh Nagar, Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.
The ATS was trying to ascertain identities of people who helped them in hotel stay and in bringing them from Punjab to Pilibhit. Two locals had been spotted accompanying them when they entered the hotel around 8pm on December 20. The trio left the hotel around 9.30pm on December 21. They were killed in an encounter on December 23, he added.
{{/usCountry}}The ATS was trying to ascertain identities of people who helped them in hotel stay and in bringing them from Punjab to Pilibhit. Two locals had been spotted accompanying them when they entered the hotel around 8pm on December 20. The trio left the hotel around 9.30pm on December 21. They were killed in an encounter on December 23, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Two locals, who were taken into custody, revealed that the trio reached Pilibhit with the help of a bus operator, who runs a daily bus service from Lakhimpur Kheri to Amritsar. The operator, who was still out of police reach, was suspected of helping them leave Punjab after the attack on a police outpost on December 18. The trio travelled from Punjab to Pilibhit via Delhi with the help of the bus operator as it was difficult to move in public transport with ammunition. A family of Lakhimpur Kheri, who are close relatives of one of the killed militants, were also on the radar of security agencies and being quizzed.