Happy is known to be an accomplice of Pakistan-based Khalistan Liberation Force chief Lakhbir Singh alias Rode.
Published Oct 11, 2023 | 7:16 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 11, 2023 | 7:16 PM
Police with the arrested people. (Supplied)
In a joint operation, the Amritsar Police and the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) arrested three operatives of US-based notorious criminal Harpreet Singh alias Happy planning target killings in Punjab, on Wednesday 11 October.
Happy is known to be an accomplice of Pakistan-based Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Lakhbir Singh alias Rode.
The police have recovered two pistols, three magazines and 11 bullets from their possession. They were produced before the Ajnala Sub Division Court and were subsequently sent to police remand for further interrogation.
Happy and his two accomplices, Harbir Singh and Navroop Singh, currently residing in the US were in touch with Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh alias Rinda, chief of banned terrorist outfit Babar Khalsa International (BKI).
The Indian government has designated Rinda a terrorist.
The FIR was registered under Sections 13, 17, 18 and 20 of The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Section 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 109, 115 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) with Ajnala Police Station.
It revealed that the group had recently received a consignment of weapons from across the Indo-Pak border and was planning to target various prominent political and socio-religious leaders in different parts of Punjab.
Meanwhile, A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Mohali ordered the confiscation of land belonging to Rode on Wednesday.
The land parcel, around 1.4 acres among other assets in Kothe Gurupura in the Moga district of Punjab will be confiscated under Section 33(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Rode, self-styled chief of KLF and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), fled to Pakistan around 1996-97. He is the nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, an erstwhile leader of the Khalistan movement.
The confiscation was related to a terror case, registered by NIA in 2021, in which Rode faces multiple charges under various sections of IPC, UAPA, Narcotic-Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Explosive Substances Act.
The case, masterminded by Rode, involves a tiffin bomb blast that occurred in 2021 near Punjab National Bank in Jalalabad town in the Fazilka district.
According to NIA, Rode worked in collusion with his Pakistan-based “masters” and had a key role in sending consignments of terrorist hardware, including arms, ammunition, custom-made tiffin bombs, grenades, explosives as well as drugs, to carry out terrorist acts — particularly bomb blasts — to instil fear and terror among the people of Punjab.
Rode is accused of engaging in a wide array of terror activities and his criminal dossier lists armed attacks on law enforcement personnel, orchestrating IED and bomb blasts, targeted killings of members of the minority community, extortion, fundraising for terrorist operations, and instilling terror among the general public.
NIA is investigating at least six cases in which he is wanted for active involvement in terror-related activities between 2021 and 2023.
