New Delhi: Three operatives of the banned outfit Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) suspected to be involved in the Gurdaspur grenade attack were killed in the early hours of Monday in a joint police operation in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district.
The three Khalistan operatives—Gurvinder Singh (25), Virender Singh alias Ravi (23), and Jaspreet Singh alias Pratap Singh (18)—were injured in the exchange of fire with police forces from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in Puranpur, and later succumbed to bullet injuries.
“In a major breakthrough against ISI-sponsored terrorism in Punjab, a joint operation of UP Police and Punjab Police has led to an encounter with three operatives of the Khalistan in district Pilibhit, UP. In this encounter, two AK-47 rifles and Glock pistols have been recovered,” Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said in a video statement.
“All three identified are residents of the area of police station Kalanor in Gurdaspur and they were involved in a grenade attack at Bakshiwala police post in Gurdaspur,” he said.
The low-intensity blast was reported Wednesday night from an area falling under the jurisdiction of the Kalanor police circle in Punjab. The trio was allegedly working on the directions of Pakistan-based designated terrorist Ranjit Singh alias Neeta.
Designated an individual terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in July 2020, Neeta was controlling this module through his Greece-based aide Jaswinder Singh Mannu, and UK-based Jagjeet Singh, who is also reportedly serving in the British Army, DGP said.
DGP Yadav further said that preliminary investigation suggested that this busted module was led by Ravi, who hails from Agwan—the village of Mannu.
Pilibhit Superintendent of Police (SP) Avinash Pandey said that Puranpur Police station was informed by the police personnel from Gurdaspur that some suspected Khalistani terrorists who had lobbed grenades at the police check post may well have been hiding in the area.
“A team of Punjab police approached the SHO of Puranpur police station and informed them that a few terrorists from Punjab who attacked a police outpost are hiding in the Puranpur area. Immediately, I was alerted, and we started an intensive search operation and barricaded all the routes in the district,” the Pilibhit SP said in a video statement.
“A police picket team at Khamaria point shared information about three suspects on a bike. Immediately, a joint team of Pilibhit and Punjab police chased them. The suspects on the bike opened fire at the police team, and in retaliation, police also opened fire at them. The suspects sustained bullet injuries and were admitted to the hospital,” he further said.
Two constables of Pilibhit police were injured in the joint encounter but they were out of danger, the SP added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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Media should not use Zindabad word,whether it’s in thename of terrorist’s organisation. Media should use another word or just Z like initials.
Jay Bharat