Sonepat police nab four for 'contract killings' in Punjab

Tribune News Service

Sonepat, February 19

With the arrest of four youths, the Sonepat police on Saturday claimed to have busted a gang which was involved in ‘contract killings’ in Punjab on the directions of banned terrorist group handlers of ‘Khalistan Tiger Force’ (KTF) and ‘International Sikh Youth Federation’ (ISYF).

Preparing youths with criminal record

Prima facie, it was revealed that the accused were in contact with the banned terrorist groups for the past three or four months and they were searching for youths who have criminal records in Haryana but not in Punjab, said sources. They were preparing such criminals for contract killings in Punjab on the directions of their handlers in Canada and Australia.

The CIA unit of the district police recovered an AK-47 rifle, 49 rounds of cartridges of AK-47, three foreign-made automated pistols and cartridges from the possession of the accused.

Besides, teams of Punjab Police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with other intelligence agencies, arrived at Sonepat to interrogate the accused.

The arrested accused have been identified as Sagar, alias Binni; Sunil, alias Pehalwan; and Jatin of Juan village; who were involved in a murder case in Punjab. Later in the evening, the police also nabbed their associate Surender, alias Sonu, from Rajpur village of the district. Two pistols were recovered from him.

Rahul Sharma, Superintendent of Police (SP), Sonepat, said at a press conference, “We received a tip-off from the Punjab Police that some youths of Sonepat district have connections with terrorists like Gurjant Singh, alias Janta, in Australlia, Arshdeep Singh Dala in Canada, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and Lakhbeer Singh Rod in Pakistan of banned terrorist groups KTF and ISYF through social media platforms.”

These terror groups used these youths for target killings to spread terror in Punjab, he said.

Sagar is the main kingpin of the arrested accused and he has a criminal record in the district. He was a close associate of the notorious gangster Ravinder Pughthala, who had been gunned down by the police earlier.

Following the tip-off, Inspector Bijender Singh, incharge, CIA team, raided the residence of Sagar on Saturday and nabbed three accused and recovered automated weapons from their possession, the SP said.

The team recovered USA-made Beretta pistol with two rounds from Sachin; Glock pistol with two rounds from Jatin and a Glock pistol made in Austria with one round recovered from Sagar and an AK-47 rifle with 49 rounds of cartridges was recovered from the room of Sagar, the SP said.

It was revealed during preliminary investigation that Sagar, along with his two associates, had murdered a person Avtar Singh of Udhampur Kalan village of Morinda in Ropar district on December 8 on the direction of Arshdeep Singh Canada and they had to murder another person in Mohali after elections, he said.

The kingpin of the group admitted that he had been in contact with Gurjant Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Lakhbeer Singh Rod through social media for a long time and they had provided them automated weapons to kill the targeted persons in Punjab. He said they had sent lakhs of rupees in their accounts for terror activities, the SP said.

A case has been registered against the accused under Sections 16, 17, 18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967; 120 B of IPC and 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act in the Mohana police station.

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