Punjab Police foil possible terrorist attack, one held
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Nov, 2021 12:02 PM
Chandigarh, Nov 24 (IANS) With the arrest of a highly-radicalised operative identified as Ranjit Singh of Tarn Taran, linked with foreign-based terrorist entities, Punjab Police on Wednesday claimed it foiled another possible terrorist attack.
The police have recovered two Chinese made P-86 hand grenades and two pistols along with cartridges, besides a black Royal Enfield motorcycle from his possession, said Director General of Police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota here.
He said acting on intelligence inputs about the presence of Ranjit Singh in the area of Amritsar, special teams were sent to the specified area to spot the suspect and Ranjit Singh was apprehended.
This development comes at a moment when Punjab has been witnessing huge inflow of hand grenades and tiffin bombs along with other weapons.
Recently, the state has also seen a couple of grenade blasts, including the cantonment area in Pathankot, besides the recovery of an unexploded hand-grenade from Zira area.
The DGP said during investigation, Ranjit Singh revealed that he had formed a group named "Kaum De Rakhe" to collect funds on the pretext of social work and through this group, he got in touch with various radical and terrorist elements based in the UK and other countries through social media.
He said recently Ranjit Singh had received a consignment of arms and explosives, and was planning to carry out a terror strike to create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness in the border state.
The DGP said Ranjit Singh was part of a group, which had vandalised statues of folk dancers installed at the heritage street leading to the Golden Temple in Amritsar on January 15, 2020.
Arrested in the statue vandalism case, he was presently on bail, he added.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said with the case load decreasing, people had started being lax about wearing masks, which the Health Department should strictly enforce with the help of the police.
Additional Chief Secretary Devendra Singh and Deputy Commissioner of Karnal Nishant Yadav are participating in the meeting. From the farmers side, BKU president Gurunam Singh Chaduni and the state leadership will present their demands.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Balbir Singh Rajewal told the media here after the day-long deliberations with the political parties, except the BJP, that they had told the political parties not to hold big rallies till elections in the state are announced.
Naqvi further stated that the long-pending demand of Kartarpur Corridor has been fulfilled and the government has also decided to start the 'Gurudwara circuit train' that will take passengers on a pilgrimage across the country.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday announced that they will continue the peaceful protest here and will not obstruct any official day to day activities. He said that farmers across the state will continue the agitation on the lines of ongoing protests at the Delhi borders.
