Political leaders were on target of terror module, claims probe

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 18

A week after the arrest of two members of a terror module in Faridkot, their interrogation has revealed that they were “planning to kill” some political leaders and those who were allegedly involved in desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib.

Sandeep Singh (26) of Bangi Nihal Singh village in Bathinda and Amar Singh (48) from Chatha village in Sirsa district of Haryana, believed to be members of Khalistan Zindabad, a subgroup of a terror module, were arrested on May 10 from the Faridkot-Kotkapura road.

Police investigation revealed that both belonged to poor families and they were “incited to take revenge” by showing gruesome and horrific pictures of 1984 riots on a Facebook page in the name of “Gabbar”, a pseudonynm, from Germany.

“Gabbar” was funding both Sandeep and Amar and they were promised Rs 1 lakh per killing, said sources in investigation teams.

They claimed the RSS and Shiv Sena were the main targets of this terror module. Investigation agencies have managed to get the names of some leaders of these groups in Moga and Jalandhar districts who were on this list. A woman in the area who was arrested by the police for the alleged theft of a “Bir” in Muktsar some time back was another target.

The police have seized two pistols and 40 cartridges from them. The pistols are China-made and the cartridges are believed to be made in Pakistan, says a police officer.

Both were in constant touch with Australia-based Gurjant Singh Khalsa, who runs International Sikh Federation, through social media and were using encrypted VoIP calls. In these encrypted calls made to Canada, Australia, German and Qatar countries, pistol, cartridges and killings were discussed with coded names.

The police are taking the help of Interpol to investigate in foreign countries, said insiders.