Punjab Police nabs two radicals

| | Chandigarh | in Chandigarh

Punjab Police on Saturday claimed to have arrested two persons, allegedly indoctrinated, radicalised and funded by their foreign-based handlers, including Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Legal Advisor to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).

In a statement, police said  one person has also been arrested for allegedly supplying weapons to the duo for carrying out hate crimes on the directions of their handlers.

The arrests came even as a US-based Khalistani group affiliated to SFJ issued a video threat to Punjab Jail Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for his opposition to its referendum on creation of a separate homeland for Sikhs. The threat had been tweeted by Pannun, apparently in response to Randhawa's open criticism of the referendum launched by SFJ in Canada and the United States.

The jail Minister had said that the people who were "pitching for Khalistan from their cosy confines were playing with the sentiments of innocent Sikhs in India and they had no knowledge of the reality in Punjab.”

The Punjab Police, which has taken a serious view of Pannun’s video threat, has initiated a probe into the matter, as well as detailed investigations to ascertain the SFJ Legal Advisor’s links with Dharminder Singh alias Commando Singh (21) and Kirpal Singh (26), who were arrested from the former’s house in village Harpura Dhandoi in Batala.

A police spokesperson said the duo had confessed to being motivated and financed by Pannun, along with Paramjit Singh Pamma (UK), Mann Singh (UK), Deep Kaur (Malaysia), to carry out various types of violent acts, with the aim of giving wide publicity in the media to the ongoing ISI funded and sponsored secessionist campaign for the ‘liberation of Punjab’ from the Indian government.

The arrests came during investigations into setting of two liquor vends on fire in the wee hours of May 31 in Harpura Dhandoi and Panjgrian villages in Sri Hargobindpur block of Batala Police district, said the spokesperson.

One 32 caliber Revolver was recovered from the personal search of Dharminder Singh, while a .30 caliber Pistol was recovered from the possession of Kirpal Singh.