Court sends terror module members to judicial custody

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, August 18

A Tarn Taran court today sent three members of an alleged terror module being run by Gurdev Singh alias Jaisel from the Czech Republic to judicial custody after the expiry of their police remand.

They were Ashmpreet Singh of Noordi in Tarn Taran and Pardeep Singh and Sukhmanpreet (both residents of Sheron in Sarhali, Tarn Taran). They were arrested by the Tarn Taran police on August 13. The police had confiscated three weapons and Rs 37,500 in cash from their possession.

During interrogation, the police found that the trio had been recruited by Jaisel in recent months. Their main work was to smuggle and transport weapons and currency to the designated person about whom they hardly knew anything.

“Till now, they had smuggled and delivered around 10 weapons besides Rs 35 lakh in Indian currency allegedly for terror funding after picking them up from the designated place on the directions of Jaisel,” said Arun Sharma, DSP (D), Tarn Taran.

As per the police investigations, Jaisel was the main operative of the Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Satbir Singh Satta, who were also behind the RPG grenade attack at the Sarhali police station in December 2022. They were also behind various plots of committing targeted killings in the state, the police had alleged.

With the Punjab Police as well as Central agencies including the National Investigation Agency tightening the noose around accomplices of Landa and Pakistan-based terrorist Harvinder Rinda, they asked Jaisel to hunt for new young guys in the module by giving allurements, including money or arranging foreign visits.

Ashmpreet and Sukkhmanpreet were both in their early 20s while Pardeep Singh was deported after he made an unsuccessful bid to reach USA. Investigations revealed that they were given between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for transport and weapons for personal use, the police said.

The police had also nominated Pakistan-based Harvinder Rinda, Lakhbir Landa and International Sikh Youth Federation president and Khalistani separatist Lakhbir Rode and nine others under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case. The others booked in the FIR included Satbir Singh (alias Satnam Singh Satta), Gurdev Singh (alias Jaisel), Yadwinder Singh Yada, Gurcharan Singh (aka Guri Khehra) and Gurvinder Singh Ginda. Besides Sukhmanpreet, Pardeep and Ashmpreet, the police had also nominated another person, Jobanjit Singh of Malia village, who used to work on the instructions of Jaisel.