Nabha jailbreak ‘mastermind’ shifted to high-security barrack

Mintoo also had a plan to flee from the country to Thailand or Malaysia where also he had several good contacts. Hunting for the fugitives, the police opened fire at a auto near a checkpost around 25 kms from the prison, killing a woman in what they admitted was a mistake. “Another vehicle had been found abandoned on Sunday in Solumajra in Kaithal and is suspected to have been used by prisoners who escaped from the Nabha jail”.

Interrogation has also indicated that there was likely some carelessness in the security arrangements at Nabha jail. “He had reached Delhi by changing a number of buses and was headed from Nizamuddin to Panvel (in Maharashtra)”.

“A semi-automatic pistol along with six live cartridges were recovered from his possession”, special commissioner of police Arvind Deep said. Had the whole escapade between plotted from across the border, Mintoo would have by now escaped out of India, instead of waiting in Delhi to be nabbed, he noted.

On their escape, he said it was “all pre-planned”. We will catch them. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday from the Delhi-Haryana highway. “The Haryana and Delhi Police had swung into action immediately after getting information in this regard from Punjab”, he said. Police say Kashmir Singh also travelled to Delhi with the apprehended absconders and they suspect that he may still be present in Delhi. “Following intensive checking and tracking, he was arrested from the railway station last night”, said the officer. “He was looking extra conscious which raised suspicion”, Deep said. At the time of his arrest, the then DGP Sumedh Saini had claimed that Bhai Mintu was wanted in 10 terror related cases including attacks on Sirsa Cult chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and three Shiv Sena leaders in Punjab.

“Such daredevil attack on the jail by armed men in police uniform could not have been possible without active connivance of the state government or higher police officials”, Ghuggi alleged and demanded that there is a need to immediately deploy paramilitary forces in Punjab.

The Uttar Pradesh police had arrested on Sunday the jailbreak mastermind, Parminder Singh, from Kairana in the state’s Shamli district.

Khalistani Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo was on Monday nabbed from Delhi railway station.

Mintoo would be presented in a court in Delhi and handed over to Punjab Police on transit remand.

“The Home Ministry has been doing whatever needs to be done”, he said.