Babbar Khalsa man held in UP

Makhan was arrested when he was going to Punjab after returning from Nepal where he had gone a few days ago to get a new passport made in the name of Dayal Singh,said the police. A few telephone numbers,a cell phone and cash have been recovered from the possession of Makhan,who is a native of Noorpur Jatta village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

“Makhan is a close associate of BKI chief Wadhawa Singh alias Chacha,who is operating from Pakistan these days,” said Brij Lal,ADG (Law and Order).

The police said Makhan was arrested on tip-offs from various sources,including Gurjant Singh,a link between another militant outfit Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and BKI. Gurjant was arrested by the ATS from Saharanpur on October 10.

The police said Makhan worked as a driver in Thailand,Hong Kong,Yugoslavia,Japan,Panama and California after getting his passport made from Jalandhar in 1987. In California,he came in contact with one Tara Singh,who introduced him to Wadhawa Singh.

“Wadhawa called Makhan to Lahore and trained him in arms,” said Lal.

After staying in Lahore for 12 years,Makhan and five others entered India via Gurdaspur border in November 2009. They also brought three AK-47s,three pistols,two hand grenades and 400 cartridges to execute terror activities and hand over these arms to one Pal Singh in Punjab.

Two AK-47s were given to Karanvir,another BKI operative,in May this year. Makhan and Karnvir used these arms to eliminate Sant Pardhan Singh Buddon of Kutia Sant Maiyya Das dera in Hoshiarpur on May 16,said the police. Pal Singh was arrested with arms and ammunition from Amritsar in July.

Makhan and Karanvir,along with another person from Western UP,then went to Kathmandu to get passports. “But due to the present political situation in Nepal,they could not get their passports made. Since some more paper work was required,Makhan decided to come back and get those documents,” said Dr Rakesh Pandey,Senior Superintendent of Police,ATS,UP.

Karanvir and the unidentified person had returned to Punjab earlier,soon after which Karnvir was arrested on October 18. He,however,escaped from the custody of Hoshiarpur police within a few hours of his arrest. Besides Karanvir alias Bablu of Daroli village in Jalandhar,who had an award of Rs 5 lakh on his head,the Punjab Police had arrested one Jarnail Singh and his wife Ranjit Kaur the same day.

Makhan was also returning to Punjab when the police arrested him in Siddharth Nagar on Saturday night.

“He was produced in court and handed over to the Punjab Police after they got his transit remand. A team of Khanna police had come to UP and was part of the joint operation. No weapons were recovered from him (Makhan),but he told us that they had kept the weapons in safe custody at some places in Punjab,” said Pandey. Sources said the state police would now question Makhan to know the whereabouts of Karanvir.