Punjab Police Makes Second Arrest In Amritsar Attack, Main Accused Held With Arms And Ammunition

The man who allegedly threw a grenade on a religious congregation at Nirankari Bhavan in Amritsar last Sunday leaving three persons dead has been arrested, the Punjab police have claimed.

Police said the main accused, Avtar Singh was arrested from Khayala village in Amritsar on Saturday.

AFP

The cops have also recovered a cache of arms including two pistols. The gun that the perpetrators were carrying on the day of attack has been recovered along with four magazines and 25 live rounds.

Earlier the police had arrested Bikramjit Singh, an operative of militant organization Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) who was allegedly driving the motorcycle on that day while Avtar Singh threw the grenade.

PTI

According to the investigators, Avtar has links to Harmeet Singh Happy alias PhD, the self- styled chief of ISI-backed KLF, based in Pakistan.

"Happy has emerged as the most active leader of outfits working under the watch and directions of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), which is determined to spread terrorism in the border state of Punjab by radicalising poor and gullible youths of the state and motivating them to carry out terrorist actions," DGP Arora claimed.

The DGP said that initial investigations revealed that a person identified as Javed, who is Pakistan-based, was allegedly involved in misguiding the accused to carry out the terrorist act.

"Avtar, who is a quack, was contacted on WhatsApp a few months ago by one Javed, who claimed to be a Pakistani national from Dubai.

"The so-called Pakistani national, who spoke in Punjabi, first contacted him on the basis of a reference for seeking consultation for his back problem," the DGP said.

AFP

A few months ago, Javed put Avtar in touch with Happy who tried to motivate him to carry out terrorist acts in Punjab on the lines of targeted killings of RSS and Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) workers in Punjab in 2016-17.

According to preliminary investigations, Avtar Singh claimed that about two months ago, he contacted his maternal cousin Paramjit Singh Baba, based in Italy, to arrange weapons "to settle scores" with some people of his village, police said.

Baba put him in touch with Happy, based in Pakistan, who Avtar had identified as the same person introduced to him by Javed. Happy promised Avtar that he will arrange weapons for him.

Avtar along with Bikramjit retrieved a bag containing two .32 bore pistols, four magazines, twenty-five cartridges, and one hand grenade near Majitha on November 4 and allegedly carried out the crime, police said.

AFP

During the investigation, Avtar said that he was staunchly opposed to 'Derawad' and all the self-styled gurus of sects such as the Dera Sacha Sauda, they said.

Three persons including a preacher were killed and over 20 injured in the attack by two motorcycle-borne men last Sunday.