Delhi Police arrest gunrunners who supplied arms to alleged Khalistani activists

New Delhi: The Delhi police on Thursday said that they have arrested two gunrunners from Madhya Pradesh who allegedly provided funds to purported Khalistani activists

New Delhi: The Delhi police on Thursday said that they have arrested two gunrunners from Madhya Pradesh who allegedly provided funds to purported Khalistani activists.

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Police said the two men Rajender Singh Barnala,22, and Bablu Singh,30, were arrested on Wednesday from north Delhi’s Rohini area with 18 semi-automatic pistols and 60 live cartridges.

Sanjeev Yadav, deputy commissioner of police(special cell), said the police had inputs that alleged Khalistanis were in touch with illegal firearms suppliers from Madhya Pradesh.

“We learnt that these weapons suppliers were operating on social media platforms, where radical groups of Khalistan supporters and gangsters were getting in touch with them to buy weapons. We were watching their activities,” Yadav said.

Police said they were monitoring some social media accounts for the past three months. “More than three months of surveillance led the team to a private Facebook page dedicated to the Khalistan movement. Access to this page was denied as the group was private. Technical approaches were used to gain access to the page and it was kept under surveillance. A person was posting photos and videos of firearms for sale on the account. A virtual phone number given on the handle was cracked by the special cell team,” Yadav said.

Monitoring of the cell phone number led to information that two men associated with the racket will be coming to Karala -Barwala road in Rohini area on Wednesday around 8.30pm. A police team arrested the two suspects from the spot, DCP Yadav said.

During interrogation, Rajender said many people from Barwani town in Madhya Pradesh were engaged in this racket. He said the firearms were sent through human ‘couriers’.

Initial investigation has shown that the two suspects learnt to run the racket online from members of the Lawrence Bishnoi group. Bishnoi is a notorious gangster who has criminal cases registered against him in Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab.

“Rajender Singh told the police that the used to supply illegal weapons to Khalistani activists in Punjab. He used to communicate through social media and other apps to avoid detection by the police,” added Yadav.

During questioning, Rajender told the police the they used to sell a pistol for ₹25,000- ₹50,000.

The other suspect, Bablu Singh is Rajender’s relative, police said.