Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal.

The Shamli police on Monday claimed to have uncovered a failed bid to attack former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a SAD rally in Patiala on October 7. Police arrested three persons Monday and claimed to have recovered the two service rifles allegedly robbed from two policemen on September 2. They added that the recovered weapons were meant to carry out an attack on former CM Badal, but the plan was aborted after the rifles could not be transported to Punjab.

Those arrested have been identified as as Karam Singh (30) of Shamli, Gurjant alias Zinta (23) of Saharanpur and Amrit (24) of Haryana.

Kairana Circle Officer Rajesh Tiwari said: “Our informers told us that the accused were carrying the robbed weapons with them and they were meant to be shifted to Punjab on a truck by their gang leader, German. Police stopped them around Rangana area of Shamli district and arrested them after an encounter.”

ADG, Meerut Zone, Prakash Kumar said: “During the interrogation, the accused told us that German is in touch with people in Punjab who are associated with the Khalistan movement. Zinta and Amrit also said that it was German’s plan to rob weapons from the cops and to use them to target Parkash Singh Badal and another political leader in the rally on October 7. Weapons were also to be used to create terror at the rally. Due to some reasons, the weapons could not be sent to Punjab on time.”

On September 2, four men had attacked home guard Sanjay Kumar Verma and police constable Sansar Singh and snatched one .303 bore and one Insas rifle from them from an area under the Jhijhana police station area of Shamli. The attackers had shot and injured Sanjay Kumar, while Sansar Singh was hit with a pistol butt. Sanjay, who had suffered a bullet injury on his right shoulder, is reported to be stable. “In the September 2 incident, German, Karma, Zinta and Amrit were involved. Karam Singh, who worked at a gurdwara in Shamli, had later hidden both the robbed weapons inside the gurdwara,” claimed Rajesh Tiwari.

Tiwari added that based on intelligence inputs and mobile phone surveillance, police found out that the wanted men were planning to move towards Oan area of Shamli from Rangana. A police team then laid a trap and chased down the motorcycle they were riding, he added.

Tiwari also revealed that Amrit suffered a bullet injury on his leg, while Gurjant sustained a bullet injury on his hand during the cross-firing.

“So far, we have not found any criminal history of the three arrested accused. We are collecting information about them from other places. Two others, their gang leader German and Karma — both from Shamli — are still on the run,” said Rajesh Tiwari. Apart from the stolen service weapons, police also claimed to have found a .30 bore pistol in their possession.

According to Tiwari, “The accused claimed that Prakash Singh Badal was made a target because he was opposing supporters of Khalistan…”