Five with suspected terror links arrested from east Delhi

The police recovered two kilograms of heroin, three pistols, two cars and ₹1 lakh from the arrested persons. The men and sleuths from the special cell exchanged 13 rounds of fire, but nobody was hurt in the shootout, they said.

Five men, allegedly involved in anti-national activities and targeted killings, including that of Shaurya Chakra recipient Balwinder Singh Sandhu at his home in Punjab in October, were arrested after a shootout in east Delhi on Monday morning, the Delhi Police said.

The police added that the men belong to Punjab and Kashmir. (HT Archives. Representative image)

The police recovered two kilograms of heroin, three pistols, two cars and ₹1 lakh from the arrested persons. The men and sleuths from the special cell exchanged 13 rounds of fire, but nobody was hurt in the shootout, they said.

The police added that the men belong to Punjab and Kashmir.

Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said that with the arrest and interrogation of the five men they have exposed the nexus of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan, pro-Khalistan radicals, and narco-terrorists who were working together to revive militancy in Punjab and planning a slew of killings, mostly of right-wing leaders in Punjab and Delhi. Narco-terrorism was being used to fund the revival of the militancy, he said.

Of the three Kashmiri men, one Ayub Pathan is directly associated with terrorist organisation Hizbul Muzahideen, while the other two, identified as Shabir Ahmad Gojree and Riyaz Rather, are also linked to the outfit. All three of them are “over-ground workers (OGW)” of Hizbul Mujahideen, the DCP said.

The two Punjab men, Gurjit Singh alias Bhaa and Sukhdeep Singh aka Bhura, are hitmen of gangster Sukhmeet Pal Singh alias Sukh Bikhariwal, who lives in a Gulf nation and has been instrumental in executing the targeted killings on the instructions of ISI and Pakistan-based Khalistan radicals, said DCP Kushwah.

“On October 16, Gurjit and Sukhdeep murdered Shaurya Chakra recipient Balwinder Singh Sandhu on Bikhariwal’s instructions. Bikhariwal was also given the task to kill Honey Mahajan, a leader of a Hindu outfit. A near-fatal attack on Mahajan was executed by Bikhariwal’s hitmen on February 11 in Punjab. While Mahajan survived despite being seriously injured, another person was killed in that attack,” said Kushwah.

According to the DCP, the special cell had been receiving inputs since January that ISI, through its K2 (Kashmir-Khalistan) desk, has been funding the targeted killings of right-wing leaders and opponents of terrorism through the spoils of drug trafficking. ISI operatives had been pushing narcotic drugs through the OGWs of Hizbul Mujahideen based in Kashmir and supplying them to their Khalistani counterparts in Punjab for further distribution, he said.

“Our teams learnt that on ISI’s instructions, three men from Kashmir had come to Delhi to provide funds obtained through drug trafficking to the hitmen on Bikhariwal. The task was assigned to them by a Pakistan-based operative code-named Sadakat,” said Kushwah.

On Monday, the teams laid a trap in the Shakarpur area following inputs that the suspects would meet there. Around 6.45am, two cars were spotted and the occupants were asked to surrender. The suspects fired at the police party in a bid to flee. The police fired in self-defence and caught all five of them, the DCP said.

After killing Sandhu at his home in October, Gurjit and Sukhdeep had been lying low at hideouts arranged by Bikhariwal. Recently, the two were asked to execute the killing of an important person in Delhi. The two, however, were not given the name of their target. Bikhariwal had asked them to receive money from their Kashmir associates for arranging logistics, he said.

“The ISI is trying to emulate the model of 2016-17 in Punjab wherein they executed eight murders of right-wing leaders through a similar modus operandi,” added Kushwah.