2 radicals backed by Khalistani handlers arrested

BATALA: Police on Saturday arrested two Sikh men, who the police claim were planning to disturb peace in the state ahead of the Operation Bluestar anniversary on June 6 at the behest of their foreign handlers.

Disclosing this here at a press conference, inspector general (border range), Amritsar, SPS Parmar, and Batala SSP Opinderjit Singh Ghumman said the accused have been identified as Dharminder Singh alias Commando Singh, a resident of Harpura village, and Kirpal Singh, a resident of Fatehpur Nawanpind village.

They said one of the accused, Dharminder Singh, has been serving with the Territorial Army, 105 TA Rajputana Rifles, in New Delhi. The police have recovered a .30 calibre revolver, one .30 calibre pistol, some posters of the Sikh Referendum 2020, stencils of Khalistan Zindabad slogans and some spray paint bottles from them.

The IG said that some unidentified people had set two liquor vends afire at Harpura Dhandoi and Panjgrian villages on May 31, following which a special Investigation team was constituted under Dsp(city) Sucha Singh Bal to nab the accused. On a tip-off, a police team, led by the DSP, arrested Dharminder Singh from his house at Harpura village.

He also confessed the involvement of one Kirpal Singh in the case. Later, Kirpal Singh was also arrested from village.

During investigation, the accused confessed that they were radicalised and were being funded by their foreign-based handlers, including Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser of the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) Paramjit Singh Pamma (UK), Mann Singh(uk) and Deep Kaur (Malaysia) to promote the Isifunded secessionist campaign for ‘Liberation of Punjab’, the IG and the SSP said. The IG said, “Pannun had also asked the duo to put up Referendum 2020 posters during the recently held IPL matches in Mohali.” A case has been registered. LONDON: Sandip Singh Atwal, a disc jockey (DJ) who exaggerated the effect of his relatively minor injuries in a bid to defraud the National Health Service (NHS) of £800,000 (₹7.15 crore) has been jailed for three months. He has also been asked to pay £75,000 (₹67 lakh) in legal costs.

Sentencing him on Friday in the high court, justice Spencer