Probe Points to Canada And Pak-based Gangster-terrorists with ISI Calling The Shots

The recent incidents of RPG attacks in Punjab have alarmed security agencies, with intelligence inputs unravelling a nexus between Canada-based terrorist Lakhbir Landa and Pakistan-based gangster-terrorist Harvinder Rinda to foment trouble in the border state.

The latest rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack took place in Sarhali village of Tarn Taran district recently. As part of the investigations into the attack, the Punjab police claimed to have busted a sub-module of the Landa gang with the arrest of its three operatives after recovering a loaded RPG along with a rocket launcher from their possession. The sub-module was being handled by Yadwinder Singh from the Philippines on Landa’s instructions, according to Punjab’s director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.

The arrested operatives have been identified as Kulbir Singh, Hira Singh, and Davinder Singh, all residents of village Chambal in Tarn Taran. The police have also booked accused Yadwinder Singh.

“With the recovery of a ready-to-use fresh RPG, the Punjab police have successfully thwarted another possible terrorist attack aimed at disturbing the peace and harmony of the state,” said the DGP.

The development came days after the arrest of seven persons, including the two juveniles, who carried out the terror attack at the Sarhali police station building in Tarn Taran on December 9. The DGP said that in an intelligence-led operation, Tarn Taran Police set up nakabandi (checkpoint) at bridge Billianwala and arrested two bike-borne persons identified as Kulbir Singh and Hira Singh in connection with the Sarhali RPG attack.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had provided one loaded RPG on the day of the attack on the Sarhali police station on the instructions of Yadwinder Singh, presently residing in Manila, the Philippines. Yadwinder had also sent a tutorial video on launching an RPG attack to show it to the juveniles who fired the missile at the police station, said the DGP.

During further questioning, the accused disclosed that they along with another accused, Davinder Singh, concealed another RPG on the instructions of Yadwinder Singh, while adding that the RPG along with a rocket launcher was recovered from a pinpointed location on the banks of the river Beas in village Keedian in Tarn Taran, the DGP said.

Police teams have also arrested accused Davinder Singh, who disclosed that they were hatching a conspiracy to carry out another terrorist attack in the state on the instructions of Yadwinder Singh and Landa. The police are further investigating the backward and forward linkages in this case and more recoveries and arrests are expected soon, the DGP added.

In May this year, gangsters attacked the intelligence headquarters of Punjab police in Mohali, causing damage to the building. A probe had revealed that the perpetrators were tasked by Pakistan-based Rinda to carry out the attack. Those arrested in the case were also associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwapuria gangs.

After the RPG attack, the accused evaded the police trap for several months and crisscrossed more than a dozen states before being arrested. Rinda was regularly funding them, the police had said.

Intelligence sources said that these attacks in Punjab were being coordinated by both Rinda and Landa and there were indications of Pakistan-based ISI funding the activities of the two. “Pakistan has been desperate to fuel subversive activities in the state and these two men are now emerging as crucial links in their plans,” revealed an officer.

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