New Delhi: A man from Tarn Taran accused of attempting to sabotage a Dedicated Freight Corridor railway line in Patiala was also associated with jailed Lok Sabha member Amritpal Singh during the campaign leading up to the 2024 general elections, sources in the Punjab Police have told ThePrint.
The man, identified as Jagroop Singh, was killed late on Monday when the explosive device he was planting on the rail track exploded prematurely.
Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh represents the Khadoor Sahib constituency in the Lok Sabha. He has been imprisoned at Dibrugarh Jail in Assam from April 2023 under the National Security Act after a crackdown on his organisation ‘Waris Punjab De’.
Jagroop’s house in Panjwar village has several portraits of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the separatist leader killed in Operation Bluestar in June 1984, the police said.
On Tuesday, the Punjab Police claimed to have busted a terror module behind the botched attempt to damage a railway line near Sambhu border, arresting four accused, including Jagroop’s brother Satnam Singh. Patiala Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Kuldeep Singh Chahal and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Varun Sharma identified Pardeep Singh Khalsa as the mastermind of the entire plot.
“Pardeep Singh Khalsa was the main kingpin of the module as he was in close proximity with Malaysia-based pro-Khalistani terrorists as well as in close contact with Pakistan-based arms suppliers. He used to send radicalised youth to Malaysia for undergoing terror training and then assign them terror activities,” DIG Chahal said.
The Punjab Police also identified Pardeep as the founder of a closely run extreme Right-wing group, Chalda Vaheer Chakarwarti, Attariye,’ that comprised of like-minded individuals who allegedly discussed conspiracy to disrupt peace.
Officials said that the arrested accused were in touch with their handler—believed to be based in Malaysia and identified as Jujhar Singh—over a highly secure, paid, encrypted platform called Threema for last few years.
It was in Malaysia that Jagroop came into touch with ‘Khalistani handlers’ working to disrupt peace and normalcy in Punjab, sources in the police said. “Jagroop was an isolated man although he had a full-fledged family with two kids and parents,” a Punjab Police officer said.
Jagroop allegedly made several trips to overseas including Malayasia, and the Punjab Police has sought his travel details from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
“This terror module was working since 2021 when Jagroop went to Malaysia. He remained in touch with those handlers along with other module members even after his return,” another Punjab Police officer said.
The 39-year-old was a Nihang Sikh from Panjwar village, also the native village of the founder and chief of the terrorist outfit Khalistan Commando Force, Paramjit Singh Panjwar.
Paramjit, designated as an “individual terrorist” under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in 2020, was shot dead by unknown persons in May 2023 in Lahore, where he was said to have enjoyed protection of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Sources in the Punjab Police said that all the accused arrested as part of the probe into the module faced cases, including under provisions of the Arms Act. Jagroop was questioned by Barnala district police as part of investigation into separatist graffiti on residence of Kulwant Singh Pandori, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Mehal Kalan, on 15 August last year.
The Tarn Taran man, however, was not charged in the graffiti case.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)