Quantum of punishment for Nabha jailbreak guilty today
Aman Sood
Patiala, March 22
A day after a local court held 28 accused, including more than 10 ‘gangsters’, guilty in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak case, there is no clue about the whereabouts of Khalistan ideologue Kashmir Singh Galwandi.
The jailbreak, one of the most daring ever in Punjab’s history, had highlighted the negligence on part of the police, jail authorities and the government for mishandling the situation.
Additional Sessions Judge HS Grewal will announce the quantum of sentence on March 23. The police had filed a chargesheet against 34 accused in 2017 in the case.
The jailbreak took place in November 2016 and later the case was transferred to the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU), which was specifically drafted by the then government to “arrest and take action against gangsters active in the state”. Later, counter-intelligence sleuths took over the case and started tracking the movement ofKashmir.
“It looks like he is not using any gadget and is underground. He might be in India only as he has limited means to escape the country. However, very little is known about him,” said a senior officer.
“He has links with sleeper cells. He can train other persons and plan similar attacks. We are still looking for him as he is a threat, given the present scenario,” said another officer.
Kashmir, who hails from Galwandi village in Khanna, was one of the four accused in the attack on Harvinder Soni, general secretary of the Punjab unit of Shiv Sena. He was arrested in April 2015 along with three others and booked for attempt to murder.
A total of 14 gangsters, many of them dressed as cops, had attacked the jail on November 27, 2016. Firing shots indiscriminately, they took just a few minutes to execute their plan as the jail officials failed to retaliate.
The escapees included Khalistan Liberation Force chief Harminder Singh, alias Mintoo, Kashmir Singh Galwandi, Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, alias Sonu Mudki, Kulpreet Singh, alias Neeta Deol, Amandeep Dhotian and Vicky Gounder. Of these, Sekhon, Deol and Dhotian have been held guilty by the court. During the course of investigation, the investigators arrested more than 34 accused.
