PO having links with militant outfits arrested after 27 years

RANA WAS ALSO ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN FIVE SHOOTING INCIDENTS IN PUNJAB. HE WAS ARRESTED FROM A SHRINE WHERE HE WAS WORKING AS A “GRANTHI”

KAPURTHALA: The Kapurthala police on Monday arrested a proclaimed offender (PO), who had links with militant outfits Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and Babbar Khalsa, and was wanted in multiple cases of murder, from Koharkalan village in Jalandhar.

Ranjit Singh, alias Rana, a resident of Jangpur Jattan village in Jalandhar, was also allegedly involved in five shooting incidents in Punjab, said the police.

Addressing the press conference, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Kumar Sharma said Rana was arrested from a religious shrine where he was working as a “granthi”.

The SSP said he was declared a proclaimed offender in the murder case of one Surinder Singh of Manawali village in Phagwara.

His accomplices, Jagdish Singh and others, killed Surinder in May 1991. After the murder, he shifted to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

The senior superintendent of police (SSP) said Rana had been evading arrest for over 27 years.

Villagers informed the police that Rana was dead and his “bhog” was performed two decades ago, SSP Sharma said.

In 1990, Rana had allegedly murdered a liquor vendor in Mubarakpur village in Rupnagar with help from two accomplices, the SSP said, adding that in 1997, he underwent a sentence of two years and after imprisonment.

He was acquitted in two cases and was facing trial in two more, he said.