By IANS,
New Delhi : The two Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists arrested Thursday were remanded in by Delhi Police’s custody till January 2 by a court here Friday.
Sarabpreet and Jaswinder Singh were sent to 10 days’ custody of Delhi Police’ Special Cell by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav.
The police sought the remand of the BKI operatives on the ground that the duo needed to be further interrogated and would be taken to Punjab and Haryana for seizure of arms and nabbing other accused. The police told the court that the suspected terrorists needed to be confronted with the material recovered from their laptop.
The two terrorists, who planned to assassinate three religious leaders in Punjab and Haryana and some Punjab politicians, were arrested from Delhi and Punjab in raids by a Special Cell team of Delhi Police Thursday.
The module was commanded to assassinate three religious leaders: Baba Ram Rahim of Sirsa (Haryana), Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara of Dhamiana (Punjab), and Baba Ashutosh of Ludhiana (Punjab). Besides, the terrorists were also tasked to assassinate some political leaders of Punjab during the February 2012 assembly elections in the state.
“They were selected by BKI chief Wadhawa Singh, who is claimed to be out of India now, and Kulbir Singh, a BKI operative, to assassinate the three religious leaders in Punjab and Haryana and some political leaders in Punjab during the upcoming assembly elections,” said Ashok Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police (Crime).
The arrested have been identified as Sarabpreet Singh alias Prince, 30, a resident of Rupnagar (known as Ropar earlier) in Punjab, and his childhood friend Jaswinder Singh, 30, from Anandpur Sahib, also in Punjab’s Rupnagar district.
“The operatives were waiting for a consignment of rifles and assault rocket launchers for striking at the religious and political leaders, as they are under heavy security cover,” said Chand.
Chand said Delhi Police had first arrested Sarabpreet, who was residing in the Singhal Pura neighbourhood of Shalimar Bagh in north Delhi for the past eight months. On specific information, he was arrested Thursday around 10 a.m. from Singhal Pura market when he was driving his own Ford Ikon car.
According to Chand, Sarabpreet’s initial interrogation led to the arrest of Jaswinder who was picked up from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab Thursday. “Three pistols and 45 cartridges were recovered from their possession,” said Chand.
Chand claimed that Sarabpreet, a school dropout, had met BKI operative Kulbir Singh in Hong Kong in 2001 for the first time when he was only 20 years old. He met Kulbir again last year when he was allegedly inducted into the BKI.
“Sarabpreet revealed that he had allegedly gotten involved in a case of murder in Anandpur Sahib in 2003 and had been arrested. He was acquitted in the case later. In 2009, he allegedly started drug peddling and was wanted in a case in Patiala. Since then, he had been absconding,” said the official.
Sarabpreet also disclosed that he shifted his base to Ranchi and renewed his passport from the Jharkhand capital. “Kulbir Singh promised him financial support and also that the BKI would arrange explosives, assault rifles, pistols and rocket launchers. He also promised to provide two trainers to impart training in assembling and handling of weapons to youths recruited by Sarabpreet in India,” Chand said.
Chand said Sarabpreet, after coming back from Hong Kong, set up his base in Delhi as he was wanted by the Punjab Police in the drug peddling case.
“He was in touch with Wadhawa Singh and Kulbir Singh. On their instructions, he collected two consignments of weapons, explosives and fake currency. He was waiting for another consignment of assault rifles and rocket launchers for targeting the religious and political leaders,” said Chand.