Punjab Police claim they averted possible militant attack, arrest one with hand grenades, pistols

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 24

Punjab Police claimed they’d foiled a possible militant attack by the arrest of what they called a “highly radicalised operative” on Wednesday.

A press release identified the suspect as Ranjit Singh from Tarn Taran’s Sohal village.

Police have also impounded two Chinese made P-86 hand grenades and two pistols along with some live cartridges besides a black coloured Royal Enfield motorcycle bearing registration number PB02-DA-6685 from his possession, the press note quoted said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota as saying on Wednesday.

The DGP claimed after police got intelligence inputs about the presence of Ranjit Singh in Amritsar, special teams from SSOC Amritsar went to the area specified to arrest the suspect.

“This development came at a moment when Punjab has been witnessing huge inflow of hand grenades and tiffin bombs along with other weapons,” the press release said.

The state most recently witnessed some grenade blasts, including at CIA Nawanshahr and Cantonment area in Pathankot. Besides this, there was also the recovery of an unexploded hand grenade from Zira area.

DGP Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota said Singh revealed during questioning that he had founded a group named “Kaum De Rakhe” to collect funds on the pretext of social work. Through this group, Sahota said, he got in touch with various radical and terrorist elements based in UK and other countries through social media and extended his help to form sleeper cells under the garb of his social work. “Ranjit further disclosed that recently he had received a consignment of arms and explosives, and was planning to carry out a terror strike to create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness in the border state,” he said.

The DGP claimed the suspect was also part of a group that had vandalised statues of folk dancers installed at the heritage street leading to Golden Temple Amritsar on January 15, 2020. He had been arrested in connection with one such case and was out on bail when he was arrested in the current case.

“Further efforts are being made to ascertain the identity of the UK end, who had arranged the consignment and also his other Indian associates,” ADGP Internal Security RN Dhoke said.

Ranjit Singh has been booked for criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B) and concealing design to commit offence punishable with impris­onment (Section 120) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as sections of the Arms Act.

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