Absconding for 19 years, wanted terrorist held in Kapurthala
SSP Kapurthala Sandip Sharma addressing mediapersons Monday. Express SSP Kapurthala Sandip Sharma addressing mediapersons Monday. Express
Punjab Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a wanted hardcore terrorist belonging to the Bhindrawala Tigers Force (BTF) from a religious shrine at village Kohar Kalan in Jalandhar district. The arrested accused has been identified as Ranjit Singh alias Rana (55), resident of Jagatpur Jattan in Hoshiarpur district. According to police, he was working as a ‘Granthi’ (priest) to conceal his identity for the past one year. Police had been hunting for him for over 19 years.
Kapurthala SSP Sandip Sharma said that Rana was involved in five cases of murder and under the Explosives Act, out of which he was acquitted in two, served a two-year sentence in one, and was still wanted in two others cases. The SSP said that he was declared a PO in two cases, and was primarily involved with the BTF. He also did not rule out Rana’s links with other terror outfits like Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and Babbar Khalsa.
Rana was declared a PO in the murder case of one Surinder Singh of village Manawali village falling under police station Sadar in Phagwara. He and his accomplices Jagdish Singh and others had allegedly shot dead Surinder Singh in May 1991. According to police, he was involved in the murder of another Surinder Singh of village Kudha falling under police station Mahalpur in Hoshiarpur district. He along with his accomplices Ranjit Singh and Satnam Singh had allegedly murdered Surinder Singh in September 1988.
In 1990, he and his accomplices Tochi and Meetay allegedly killed a liquor vendor at village Mubarakpur falling in Ropar district. In 1997, he was sentenced for two years after being arrested with two hand grenades by Shahkot police and spent two years in jail. After coming out of jail, he went to UP to avoid arrest in other cases. He was acquitted in two cases and continues to face face trial in two cases.
The SSP said that as and when a police party raid his native village Jagatpur Jattan in search of him, villagers informed police that he was no more and even the his kin had performed his last rites long back.
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