20-year-old Akashdeep was ‘radicalised’ in Amritsar jail
AMRITSAR: Akashdeep Singh, 20, one of the four members of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) arrested on Sunday, was radicalised in Amritsar jail and had been getting the supply of arms and ammunition from Pakistanbased elements for the past 20 days. The police investigation has revealed that Maan Singh, lodged in Amritsar jail since 2017 in a case under the Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), had recruited Akashdeep in KZF.
A senior official of the counter intelligence (CI) wing of Punjab police, on condition of anonymity, said, “Over six months ago, Akashdeep was in Amritsar jail in connection with a case registered against him under Section 307 (attempt to murder). In jail, he met Maan Singh who radicalised him. Maan Singh introduced Akashdeep to some Pakistan-based entities using social media apps. Akashdeep is currently on bail.”
Maan Singh, a resident of Samurai village in Gurdaspur district, was arrested, along with Sher Singh of Kartarpur in Jalandhar, in a joint operation by the Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab police in May 2017. With the arrest of the duo, the BSF had claimed that they have busted a terror module with links in Canada and Pakistan. Later, a cache of arms and ammunition buried close to the Indo-pak border was recovered at their instance. The official said, “The location of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran, where the arms and ammunition were smuggled through drones, was sent to Pakistan-based elements by Akashdeep after he did a recce there.”
He added, “Akashdeep, along with the other three accused arrested on Sunday, received the arms and ammunition at various locations during 20 days.”
He said, “Earlier when Akashdeep was on the run, he used to stay at the dera of Balwant Singh, another KZF member arrested on Sunday, in Tanda town of Hoshiarpur where the other two accused Harbhajan Singh and Balbir Singh also used to come.”