KLF chief Mintoo acquitted in hawala case

Gagan K. Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 13

A local court on Wednesday acquitted Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo in the 2010 hawala case for planting bomb at the Nabha LPG bottling plant.

 Two cases were registered against Mintoo at Sadar police station, Nabha. He was acquitted in the bomb planting case by a local court in May and the second was pertaining to Hawala money for the same mission.

Mintoo was the first amongst the six escapees who was arrested the same day they escaped from the Nabha jail. He along with five other had escaped from the Nabha jail on November 27, last year.  

The Nabha jail break accused is still facing 11 other cases across Punjab. He was arrested from Delhi airport in 2014 after he reportedly returned from Malaysia where he reported set up a module to gather support for the cause of Khalistan.  

According to the police files he had received training at an ISI camp organised in Thailand.  Mintoo’s family runs a business in Goa and he fled to Thailand after he was named as an accused in a case of seizure of 24.5 kg explosive material and 25 detonators in Ludhiana in 2008. 

A native of Dalli village in Jalandhar district, Mintoo remained on the run until 2014 and was arrested on his return from Thailand.