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Punjab Police foiled a series of “terror attacks and targeted killings” with the arrest of two alleged Khalistani operatives.
Vikram Singh and Gurmeet Singh were nabbed from a local dhaba near Amritsar following a tip-off. The duo confessed to planning attacks at behest of their Pakistani handlers. The police also recovered machine guns, two mobile phones and a host of incriminatory conversations, messages and photographs from the arrested.
The phones are said to be key evidence as they contain suspicious transactions with Pakistan-based elements, including photographs and voice messages, as well as coordinates of a particular geo-location.
A large number of posts and links of websites on the formation of Khalistan were also found in the mobile phone of Gurmeet, who has been in regular touch with the ISI and anti-India elements sponsored by the Pakistan establishment. Cases has been registered against the duo under IPC, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act.
“Gurmeet Singh, in preliminary interrogation, attributed all the questionable content on his mobile phone to the Pakistan-based handles. He confessed that they were made to pick up sophisticated weapons and instructed to carry out terror attacks in the state, targeting a particular community to create unrest. We are currently working on identifying their mentors and handlers and bust the terror module”, Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta said on Friday.
It may be noted there has been a surge in pro-Khalistni activities across Punjab ever since the onset of COVID-19 crisis. Punjab Police had, on Thursday, booked Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, US-based legal advisor of banned Sikh organisation, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), for sedition. Pannu was booked under section 124A (waging war against India) 131 (abetting mutiny) 153A (promotion of disunity and disharmony) of IPC, and sections 10A, 13(1) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Pannu had allegedly been instigating people in the state through recorded messages from various US numbers and seeking their support for 'Refrendum2020', which calls for secession of Punjab from India. It is also alleged that he has approached China seeking support for his anti-India activities. According to DGP Gupta, they had enough evidence of Pannu acting at the behest of ISI.
