36 yrs on, KCF terrorist held in Jalandhar

Jalandhar, April 14

Dreaded radical terrorist group Khalistan Commando Force’s (KCF) wanted member Parminder Singh Rana was arrested by the Jalandhar city police on Saturday afternoon from a village in Adampur in Jalandhar. Key officials remained tight-lipped on the issue and formally denied any such arrest.

Arrested by the police 36 years after he was declared an absconder, Rana was the right-hand man of KCF chief Sukhdev Singh, alias Sukha — an operative of the group active during the darkest phase of terrorism in Punjab.

Rana’s initial arrest had been in a case, wherein a loaded Italian sten gun had been recovered from him. He was last arrested by the Jalandhar police when he was 17 years old, for his activities as a terrorist operative in the 1980s. He had eight cases against him during the terrorism days, of which one was pending. He had received bail in the case as he was a minor then. In 1988, he was declared an absconder in the case.

Rana was arrested following a tip-off that he was hiding at Dingrian village in Adampur, where he was visiting. He had returned to the village after 30 to 40 years as he had gone underground after his group members were being targeted by law enforcement agencies.

He had started living in Rajasthan after KCF chief Sukha had been killed in an encounter.