Babbar Khalsa, ISI behind Mohali RPG attack: Police
The RPG attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence wing headquarters in Mohali earlier this week was jointly carried out by Babbar Khalsa International and local gangsters with the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, police said on Friday.
The rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence wing headquarters in Mohali earlier this week was jointly carried out by Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and local gangsters with the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, director general of police (DGP) V K Bhawra said on Friday.
At least six people have been arrested so far for their purported involvement in planning and providing local logistic support to the attackers to carry out the blast that rocked the headquarters of the force’s intelligence wing on Monday, he added.
“This (blast) incident was the result of the BKI-gangster nexus at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI,” Bhawra told reporters here.
The DGP also identified the key accused as Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, who reportedly provided RPG, AK-47 and local gangsters for logistic support for the attack.
“The key conspirator who organised all logistics in this case is Tarn Taran resident Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, who used to be a gangster and had shifted to Canada in 2017. He is a close associate of gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, who operates from Pakistan,” he said.
Landa has joined hands with BKI, which is a banned pro-Khalistan terrorist organisation, the DGP said.
The DGP said all people involved in the planning of the attack were identified. “What was the conspiracy, who did it from where and at whose behest, who provided shelter, logistics, weapons, recee, all these things are clear now. Only the attackers are yet to be identified,” he said.
Providing details, the DGP said Landa took the help of one Nishan Singh of village Kulla in Bhikhiwind, who is among those arrested, and his aide Charat Singh of Khemkaran in Tarn Taran to carry out the attack. Jagdeep Singh Kang of Wave Estate in Sector 85, who has also been arrested, had helped Charat to conduct a recce of the intelligence office on Monday morning.
On the same evening, Charat and two of his aides, who came from outside (Can we say this) are yet to be identified, carried out the blast at around 7.42 pm, the DGP, who was accompanied by additional directorate general of police (internal security) R N Dhoke and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mohali Vivek Sheel Soni, said.
While Charat initially provided shelter to his two aides in Tarn Taran, he later handed them over to Nishan who arranged for their stay in the house of Kanwarjit Bath and Baljit Kaur in Amritsar between April 27 and May 7.
It was on Landa’s instructions that Nishan procured the RPG from an earmarked location on Kulla-Patti road in Mohali. Nishan was arrested under the Arms Act, by Faridkot police on May 11 and is in police remand till May 16.
One Baljinder Singh alias Rambo, who was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, delivered the consignment of AK-47 to Charat and his aides on the orders of Nishan. Nishan’s brother-in-law, Anant Deep, also assisted in providing logistic support, the DGP said. Deep has also been arrested.
A search is on to arrest Charat, who has been awarded life sentence in a murder case and is currently out on parole, the DGP said. “The trio will soon be arrested,” he added.
The case against the accused has been registered under section 307 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substance Act at Police Station Sohana in SAS Nagar.
Two vehicles have also been recovered from the accused, police said. Two persons – identified as Mohd. Nasim Alam and Mohd. Sharaf Raj, both residents of Auraiya in Bihar – have also been brought from Noida for questioning as they were found to be in touch with the two unknown attackers (Charat’s missing aides), they added.
