Chandigarh, Aug 9 (IANS) In a major breakthrough in the killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu in 2020, Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested key accused Gurwinder Singh, a.k.a. Baba, from Tarn Taran.
His two aides -- Sandeep Singh and Gurpreet Singh -- were also arrested, They were allegedly involved in cross-border smuggling of narcotics and weapons.
The police have also recovered one hand-grenade, one RDX-IED, two .30 bore pistols, besides magazines and 13 cartridges, 635 gm heroin, 100 gm opium, Rs 36.90 lakh drug money, and one Mitsubishi Lancer car from their possession.
Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said accused Gurwinder Singh, who was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), had played a key role in the killing of Sandhu by providing weapons to shooters.
A probe revealed that Gurwinder is a close associate of gangsters Sukhpreet Singh and Sukhmeetpal Singh.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the recovered explosives and arms and ammunition were to be used to disrupt peace and harmony and create a sense of terror in the state on or before Independence Day, said the DGP.
Inspector General of Police (Ferozepur Range) Jaskaran Singh said following inputs that Gurwinder Baba with his aide Sandeep was on the way to Khadoor Sahib, the Tarn Taran police had intercepted their car and managed to arrest them.
SSP Ranjit Singh Dhillon said the arrests are likely to lead to disclosures of cross-border smuggling modules.
Two motorcycle-borne assailants shot dead Shaurya Chakra awardee Sandhu at his residence in Bhikhiwind in the border district of Tarn Taran in October 2020.
The major recovery comes after the Fatehgarh Sahib police had busted a pharmaceutical drug cartel after making a big seizure of over 7 lakh pharma opioids during a raid at an illegal storage godown in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, said Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sukhchain Singh Gill, who was addressing the weekly press meet.
The list of airports not having night landing facility also include airports like Kullu and Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and and Ludhiana in Punjab among others.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, IGI Airport, Tanu Sharma said a complaint was received from the IGI Airport Immigration Department that one passenger came to immigration counter seeking departure immigration to Abu Dhabi. During scrutiny of his travel documents, it was found that a Russian business visa affixed on his passport was fake with no security features.
The Chief Minister said his government is always at hand to help and support the family. He said the countrymen would always remain indebted to Jawan Kuldeep Singh, who attained martyrdom to safeguard the security and sovereignty of the country.
In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister said: "India scripts history. At a time when 1.3 billion Indians are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a daughter of India hailing from a tribal community born in a remote part of eastern India has been elected our President! Congratulations to Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji on this feat."
The shooters were hired by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, the main conspirator who confessed that the execution planning of Moosewala was hatched in August last year to avenge the murder of Vicky Middukhera.
