New Delhi: The alleged mastermind behind the grenade attacks on police posts in Haryana and Punjab in April was roped in by a suspect based overseas on the directions of the terrorist outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), ThePrint has learnt.
The mastermind, Gurpreet Singh alias Babbu from Patiala’s Nanhera village, was taken into police custody from Patiala district jail where he was lodged in a separate case. Sources in the Punjab Police said that he was brought into the BKI module by another Nanhera villager, who facilitated the accommodation, funding and grenades for the attacks.
On Sunday, the police announced that Sandeep Singh alias Deepu, Harpreet Singh alias Jagga, and Harmanpreet Singh alias Preet were arrested for their alleged involvement in two grenade attacks on the two police posts in Punjab’s Patiala and Haryana’s Azeemgarh.
The three are residents of Patiala and belong to the adjacent villages of Badshahpur, Harchandpura, and Gurdialpura.
Giving details of the funding, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Simrat Kaur said that the probe has revealed that Babbu had offered Sandeep Rs 3-4 lakh for the Badshahpur attack. “Harmanpreet Singh alias Preet was paid Rs 10,000 for accompanying in the Azeemgarh attack,” she added.
The attack on the Badshapur police post in Patiala was among the series of such attacks on police establishments over the six months starting November 2024. The Patiala grenade attack on the intervening night of 31 March and 1 April was quickly followed by a similar grenade attack on a police post in Haryana’s Kaithal district, located on the border with Punjab.
Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav has said that the module linked to BKI operators Happy Passia and Gopi Nawasherian had provided logistical support for the attack. The module, he said, had taken responsibility on social media for the same.
“Preliminary investigation has also suggested that the module was actively planning further attacks on police establishments in Punjab,” he said in a statement.
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‘Tried & tested modus operandi’
The three arrested men are from very poor family background, the police said, hinting at monetary allurement as the reason behind the crime. “They had no background linked to these terror operatives or groups. They have no past with separatist activities,” a Punjab Police officer said.
According to police records, all three accused arrested for hurling grenades had only one case each against them. Sandeep faced one case under the Punjab Excise Act, which was registered in 2018, while Harpreet was booked for trespassing and theft charges in 2023. Harmanpreet was booked on similar charges by the Patiala district police in May last year.
However, they were roped in as part of the plan by Babbu, who was recruited by his US-based villager on the instructions of BKI operative Gopi Nawasherian.
“Residents of adjacent villages, the arrested trio frequently visited the saloon of Babbu’s father in Nanhera village. It was this place where Babbu approached them with a plan and promised them a hefty amount more than a lakh rupees,” a Punjab Police officer said.
In March, ThePrint had reported how foreign-based terror operatives established contacts with youth in Punjab’s villages through their contact and roped them for grenade attacks.
The latest case unravelled when the Punjab Police took Babbu into custody for questioning in a case registered by the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC). He was put behind bars after he was found in possession of firearms, including a US-made pistol.
Babbu was questioned by the counter-intelligence unit when he allegedly confessed to having orchestrated the grenade attacks in Patiala and Haryana’s Kaithal, the police said.
“This is a tried and tested model of these terrorist operatives that was also seen in the investigation of grenade incidents in border districts. In this way, they manage to achieve their objective of maintaining a semblance of threat to extract extortion from businesspersons while not being forced to pay up a huge sum of money,” a senior Punjab Police officer said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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