Another suspected militant taken into custody

Continuing with its operation against suspected terrorists,the local police on Saturday took into custody another suspected member of the banned militant outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI),Balbir Singh Bhootna. Brought on production warrant from the Nabha jail,where he was lodged in some other case,the suspected militant was produced before a Dera Bassi court,which remanded him to four-day police custody.

Zirakpur Station House Officer Inspector Yogi Raj,who was the Investigation Officer in the case,said the three suspected BKI militants arrested last week had named Bhootna and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi as their associates,following which the police sought their custody to establish their links. Gopi,who was lodged in the Ludhiana jail in connection with a blast in Shingar Cinema in Ludhiana,was on Friday taken into police custody for four days after being brought on production warrant.

Meanwhile,one of the three previously arrested suspected militants,Purshotam Singh alias Bunty,was today remanded to judicial custody till April 5 by a local court after expiry of his extended one-day police remand granted on Friday.

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Pertinently,Bunty and Daljit Singh alias Deepak had been arrested in a joint operation of Mohali and the Delhi police on March 18 while their associate Karwinder Singh alias Bittu was arrested from Delhi on March 19.

The police had also recovered Rs 1 lakh alleged hawala money,a sophisticated revolver,three live cartridges and five hand grenades. Deepak and Bittu had already been sent to the judicial custody.