— PUNJAB POLICE COMMITTED TO MAKING PUNJAB A CRIME-FREE STATE AS DESIRED BY CM BHAGWANT SINGH MANN

— HAPPY PASSIAN IN CONNIVANCE WITH HARWINDER RINDA WAS RADICALISING YOUTH BY MOTIVATING THEM TO CARRY OUT ANTI-NATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE, SAYS DGP GAURAV YADAV

— POLICE ALSO INVOKE RELEVANT SECTIONS OF UAPA, FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ARE ON

CHANDIGARH, March 7:

          In a major blow to organised crime amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a crime-free state as desired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police averted possible target killings in the state with the arrest of two members of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)-backed terror module, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday. The module is being operated by USA-based Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passian — a close aide of designated terrorist Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, along with his associate identified as Shamsher Singh alias Shera presently based in Armenia.

Those arrested have been identified as Kuldeep Singh alias Ghugg of village Bittal Jhuggian and Avtar Singh alias Laddi of village Sangowal in Jalandhar. Police teams have also recovered two .32 bore pistols along with four magazines and 30 live cartridges from their possession, besides impounding a Splendor motorcycle (PB08 FE 3940) on which they were travelling.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations suggested that Happy Passian and Shamsher Shera were working in connivance with terrorist Harwinder Rinda to radicalise the youth by motivating them to carry out anti-national activities in the state. The probe has also revealed that the arrested accused persons were tasked to carry out target killings in the state to create panic in the society, he added.

He said that the Police have invoked sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and further investigations are on.

Sharing more details, AIG Counter Intelligence Jalandhar Navjot Singh Mahal said that following intel inputs that members of the BKI module were hatching a conspiracy to carry out target killings, Police teams from CI Jalandhar launched a special operation and arrested both the accused persons at Special Naka installed in the area of Mehatpur.

A case FIR no. 17 dated 04.03.2024 has been registered under sections 10, 13, 17, 18, 18-B and 20 of the UAPA, sections 25 and 25 (7) of the Arms Act and sections 115 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), Amritsar.