Fresh case against recaptured Khalistani terrorist, sent to police custody

On Sunday, a little before 9:00am, a dozen men disguised as policemen arrived in four cars at the gates of the Nabha Jail with two handcuffed men, claiming they were bringing them after a court hearing.

Mintoo was wanted in ten terror offenses while Gopi was tasked to target Hindu outfit leaders in 2013, which were foiled by Punjab Police, in a bid to disturb the peace in the state.

Palwinder Singh Pinda, one of the key accused in the Punjab jail break case, has told the police he had no intention of freeing Khalistan Liberation Force militant Harminder Singh Mintoo.

Sources say since he had about five hours in Delhi before his train to Panvel was to leave, he chose to visit a gurudwara.

Police said that Mintoo, who had escaped from a jail in Patiala along with five other prisoners yesterday morning, had come to Nizamuddin railway station to catch a train to Goa. “Six criminals, namely Harminder Mintoo and Kashmir Singh (both terrorists), and Gurpreet Sekhon, Vicky Gounder, Amandeep Dhotian and Neeta Deol (all gangsters) escaped”, the DGP said.

KLF was extensively using the internet for collecting funds, attracting recruits and spreading falsehood and hatreds.

The jailbreak incident triggered sharp reactions from the Opposition with Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh alleging connivance of the Badal Government in the “brazen daylight” jailbreak.

Mintoo had been to Pakistan a few times and had reportedly got training from the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Another senior police officer, whose name was not mentioned in the news reports, said the swift assault took guards by surprise as the attackers moved quickly through the complex.

The Punjab government ordered a probe by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Jagpal Singh Sandhu to look into the lapses that led to the jailbreak. Mintoo was arrested today from a railway station in Delhi.

Police and security agencies were alerted in six states, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Punjab Police shared detailed descriptions of four vehicles used in the jailbreak. He was arrested in 2014 when he arrived from Thailand at the Delhi airport. Punjab’s Director General of Police has travelled to Nabha jail to take stock of the situation.

“The gangsters seemed to have driven fearlessly to the prison, entered in police fatigues and escaped with Mintoo and the others, all hardcore gangsters, without being stopped, clearly indicating that it was a pre-planned assault managed with the complicity of the highest authorities”, he added.