CHANDIGARH, Oct 17: The Punjab Police have averted possible target killings of prominent persons with the arrest of four operatives of a terror module backed by Pakistan-based terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda and operated by USA-based gangster Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia, a top police officer said on Tuesday.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said the accused were identified as Vikramjit Singh alias Raja Bains of Batala and Bawa Singh of village Luddarh in Amritsar, Gurkirpal Singh alias Gagan Randhawa and Amanat Gill, residents of Amritsar.
Police also recovered one .32 bore pistol along with 10 live cartridges from their possession, he added.
Following intelligence inputs about Rinda and Happy Passia planning to target some prominent persons in the State and they have hired two shooters to accomplish this task, police teams of the state special operation cell, SAS Nagar launched a special operation and nabbed Vikramjit and Bawa.
Preliminary investigations revealed gangster Happy Passia had a deal with accused Vikramjit for Rs 15 lakh to carry out a target killing, he said, while adding that Vikramjit had also conducted the recce of the target in the last week of September.
The DGP said the follow-up investigations suggested that the pistol and live rounds for Vikramjit were arranged by Happy Passia through his local associates Gurkirpal, Hari Singh alias Harry and Amanat, all residents of Amritsar.
“Following the disclosures of arrested accused, police teams also nabbed Gurkirpal and Amanat, while Hari Singh managed to flee abroad,” he added.
An FIR has been registered under the relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
A few days ago, police in a joint operation with the central agencies thwarted a possible terrorist attack in the border state by busting a terror module backed by militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with the arrest of two operatives. (PTI)
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