Punjab Police avert possible grenade attack on police establishment; arrest 10 people   

Commissionerate Police, Amritsar, averted a possible grenade attack on a police establishment in Batala area with the arrest of 10 people, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Friday.

Among those arrested allegedly include four key operatives of cross-border terror module being operated by Pak-based Harvinder Rinda and foreign-based Happy Passian, Jeevan Fauji and Jashanpreet Singh alias Lal, he said, as per an official statement here.

The arrested accused have been identified as Arjanpreet Singh from Awan Ramdas in Amritsar, Lovepreet Singh alias Love from Perhewal in Amritsar, and Basant Singh and Amanpreet Singh alias Aman, both residents of Baba Bakala Sahib in Amritsar.

While six handlers, who were allegedly involved in providing logistic support, have been identified as Barinderpal Singh alias Mani and Rajbir Singh alias Raju, both residents of Katle in Amritsar; Vishvas Masih alias Bhabbo of Bhaganpura in Amritsar; Dilpreet Singh alias Manna, Harjot Kumar alias Mithu and Joyal Masih alias Rohan alias Nony, residents of Dera Baba Nanak in Batala.

DGP Yadav said police teams also recovered three pistols, including two .30 bore and one .32 bore, one hand grenade and a drone from their possession. Further investigations are ongoing to establish forward and backward linkages in the case, he added.

Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said that acting on credible inputs about the module's activities, Amritsar Commissionerate launched an intel-based operation and arrested all the persons from different areas, including the Ramdas area of Amritsar Rural, Batala and Amritsar city.

The recoveries were made from Khana Chamara village in Dera Baba Nanak, Awaan village in Ramdas and Vallah area of Amritsar city, he added.

Bhullar said that with the arrest of accused persons Basant Singh and Amanpreet Singh alias Aman, Amritsar Commissionerate Police have also solved the case of an attack on a police officer's residence in Batala, which took place on November 28, 2024.

He said police teams have also identified another main operative of this module and a manhunt has been launched to apprehend him.

A case was registered on December 3 under various provisions of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, under relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act at the Cantonment police station in Amritsar.