Punjab cops break bus blast cases, arrest KZF deputy chief

The Punjab police on Monday arrested Khalistan Zindabad Force deputy chief Attarjit Singh in connection with the bus blasts in Pathankot in May and June.

Together, the two bus blasts had claimed 11 lives and left 23 injured.

Punjab police chief P C Dogra said Singh, who allegedly masterminded the operations, was arrested near the blast scene. Two of his accomplices, Tarlochan Singh and Iqbal Singh, both hailing from Jammu, have also been arrested by the Jammu police. Singh had fled to Nepal immediately after the blasts.

On information provided by Singh, 20 packets of RDX totalling 10 kilograms, four time pencils, four sophisticated time devices, four batteries of nine volts each, cordex wire, 10 detonators, one AK-56 rifle, seven magazines and 161 rounds were recovered.

The police said Singh brought three consignments into the country in April-June 1997 from across the R S Pura border in Kaliana. The consignments included 76 kgs of RDX, AK-47 rifles, and time pencils detonators. The explosives were then handed over to a person Singh knew well. Singh, however, did not know the group which actually planted these in the buses, police said.

The Khalistan Zindabad Force, founded by Babbar Khalsa leader Wadhwa Singh, was functioning under the Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence's directions, Dogra said. The operation was under Ranjit Singh's command from Pakistan.

The funds needed for KZF activities, Dogra went on, were mobilised from foreign countries through a certain R S Ginny, a Bangkok resident.

Further, Dogra said Rs 200,000 in Indian currency was brought into the country alongwith the first and third RDX consignments. The money was utilised for recruiting youngsters from Jammu area for terrorist activities.

He said investigation revealed that telephone calls were made to KZF locations in Jammu and Pakistan from Pathankot and Nepal before and after the blasts, and that hideouts in Nepal were used by KZF members.

The Punjab police, Dogra revealed, had monitored Singh's hideout in Nepal for over six weeks before arresting him.

UNI

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