ISI hiring youngsters from other states to spread terror: Police

A day after the Ludhiana police busted a multi-state terror module in the Ladhowal area, Police Commissioner Swapan Sharma said the accused were specifically tasked by their Pakistan-based handler Jasveer, alias Choudhary, to carry out grenade attacks in the border state.

He said the accused had been identified as Deepak, alias Deepu, and Ram Lal, who travelled from Rajasthan to coordinate and execute the terror attack in Ludhiana. “This highlights a dangerous trend wherein Pakistan-based handlers are deliberately recruiting criminals from other states to commit terror acts in Punjab so that they can operate under the radar and are difficult to identify. Youths from Bihar, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are being recruited to orchestrate grenade attacks in Punjab. We are in touch with the National Investigation Agency to unearth their foreign links,” he said.

A few days ago, the Ludhiana police had busted a terror module and nabbed Shamsher Singh from Ferozepur, Ajay from Haryana and Harsh Kumar Ojha from Bihar. As of now, the police have seized two Chinese 86P hand grenades, five.30 bore pistols and around 40 cartridges from their possession. The module, having links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, was planning to use hand grenades to target government buildings and other sensitive areas.

Sharma said the first arrest in the case, Shamsher Singh, led the police to Harsh Ojha, a resident of Bihar. “During interrogation, it came out that Ojha was an expert in hurling grenades and he was assigned by the module to execute terror attacks in Punjab,” he said. Later, the police also arrested Ajay based on Shamsher’s disclosure and seized two pistols from his possession.