Four main accused of a blast in a cinema hall here in October were arrested and huge cache of arms and ammunition, including RDX, were recovered from them.
LUDHIANA: Four main accused, who are members of a Sikh militant group, of a blast in a cinema hall here in October were arrested and huge cache of arms and ammunition, including RDX, were recovered from them.
The four identified as Gurpreet Singh, Palwinder Singh, Sandeep Singh and Ravinder Singh--all members of Babbar Khalsa International were arrested last night from different places of the city, Punjab's Director General of Police N P S Aulakh said here.
He said 5.1 kg RDX, three detonators, two pistols, nine live cartridges, three batteries and one scooter were recovered from the militants.
They were nabbed in a special operation conducted on information received by the police.
With their arrest, a total of eleven accused have been arrested so far in connection with the case and only one Harminder Singh is absconding, Aulakh said.
The blast inside the Shingar cinema on October 14 left six persons dead and 37 injured.
The DGP said the main motive behind the blast was to revive militancy in the state.
R K Jaiswal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ludhiana, said the four main accused had gone to the cinema hall on a three-wheeler for executing the blast on that day.
Gurpreet Singh and Harminder Singh remained seated in the three-wheeler outside the hall and Sandeep and Palwinder went inside.
Palwinder purchased a ticket entered the hall along with the explosive material taking a seat in the third row.
"Even during the interval, he kept sitting in the hall. After the interval, when the advertisement slides started appearing on the screen, he connected the wires of the explosives to trigger the blast and immediately left the hall. He and others waiting outside fled from the site on the three wheeler," Jaiswal said.
In reply to a question, Aulakh said that during the preliminary interrogations, the arrested militants revealed Gurpreet and Harminder Singh had visited Pakistan in 2006 and received training in handling arms and explosives.
During the training, they were thoroughly indoctrinated and motivated to carry out subversive activities in Punjab, which included eliminating certain VIPs.
"On returning from Pakistan, the duo started motivating other youths and also organised hideouts for them. During this period, they were instrumental in motivating a number of youth for carrying out these activities. They further told they had planned to kill sect leaders Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda, Baba Bhaniaranwala, Baba Ashutosh of Noormehal", he said.
Aulakh said this group received a consignment of 20-24kg RDX, detonators along with batteries and other devices for assembling IED, bombs from across the border in Bikaner area of Rajasthan in the last week of July.
He said the group also had organised training for new recruits at various hideouts, especially at Garhi Mansowal near Garh Shankar, where they imparted training to these youth in handling of explosives and making IEDs.
All the four arrested were produced before a Judicial Magistrate here on Sunday evening who sent them to two days police remand.
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