Nabha jailbreak: Year on, dismissed cop who provided logistics to accused held

PATIALA: More than a year after infamous Nabha jail break, police arrested dismissed constable Manjinder Singh for providing key logistics to the accused involved in the November 27 escape.

Manjinder, 47, is said to be close relative of fugitive gangster Prema Lahoriya, who is wanted in both Sukha Kahlwan murder and Nabha jailbreak, was arrested from Jandiala Guru in Amritsar district.

Manjinder was recruited as constable in 1988 in Tarn Taran district police, but was dismissed from the services in 2005 for remaining absent from the duty after he was named in a drug smuggling case then.

One of the senior police officials,

who is part of team which arrested Manjinder, said the latter provided police uniforms and turbans to accused and helped them in making fake jail warrants to gain entry into the prison.

“Manjinder’s name cropped up during interrogation of Inderjit Singh Sandhu, a key aide of fugitive gangster Vicky Gounder,” a police official said.

He added that the specific

police turbans sported by the accused originally belonged to Manjinder, who wore it when he was in service.

Sandhu, who handled Gounder’s finances generated from extortion, was arrested from delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on December 13 when landed from Jordan on a fake passport. Sandhu also handled social media accounts of Gounder.

“Acting on Sandhu’s information, we zeroed in on Manjinder and recovered an identity card and mobile phone from his possession. Manjinder came into Gounder’s contact through Prema Lahoriya,” an official said.

Manjinder assisted the attackers by providing them with vital information about the working style of cops and how they can stay a step ahead of the police after executing the jailbreak.

Superintendent of police Amarjit Singh Ghuman said the accused will be produced in Nabha court on Sunday to get his remand to extract more information from him.

“Manjinder used to look after agricultural land of Lahoriya in Gharinda village and the latter used to visit him at Palasaur village in Tarn Taran,” Ghuman said.