Module behind Ropar blast busted, 5 nabbed

Jalandhar, April 23

The Nawanshahr police claim to have solved the last month’s Ropar police post blast case with the arrest five persons, including an aide of gangster-turned-Khalistan terrorist Harvinder Singh, alias Rinda.

The accused have been identified as Kuldeep Kumar, alias Sunny (Rinda’s aide); Shabhkaran Singh, alias Sajan; Rohia, alias Ballu; Jitvesh Sethi and Amandeep Kumar. While the four accused were held from various districts of Punjab, Amandeep was arrested from Singa village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh.

A tiffin bomb and its parts, hidden in a forest well adjoining the village on the Himachal Pradesh-Punjab border, an IED and a pen drive were recovered from his possession.

Nawanshahr SSP Sandeep Sharma said following information provided by the three accused arrested on April 17 in connection with a hand grenade attack at the CIA office, the police carried out raids on various locations across the state.

In one such raid, the Nawanshahr police arrested Kuldeep. A foreign-made pistol and 10 cartridges were recovered from his possession.

“Kuldeep admitted to working for Rinda and it was on his directions, he along with other accomplices — Shabhkaran, Rohia and Jitvesh — tried to blow up a police post at Kalma Mor in Ropar on the Nurpur Bedi-Nangal road on the eve of the 2022 Assembly election results,” said the SSP. He also confessed he had handed over a tiffin bomb to Amandeep in Himachal, which was sent by Rinda. He further revealed for the task, he received Rs 3 lakh via a consignment sent from Pakistan. —