‘Babbar Khalsa operative’ held in UP’s Kaushambi, STF says was planning attack at Kumbh
The alleged terror operative fled from Punjab Police custody in Sept; grenades, other firearms seized, say police
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The alleged terror operative, Lajar Masih, in STF custody in Kaushambi district where he was arrested in a joint operation with Punjab Police on Thursday. (PTI)An operative of banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) with ISI links who was planning an attack during the recently concluded Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj was arrested from Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh, the state police’s Special Task Force claimed on Thursday.
Lajar Masih, who was arrested in a joint operation by the STF and the Punjab Police from Kaushambi’s Kokhraj area in the early hours of Thursday, had escaped from police custody in Punjab in September last year when being brought to a hospital in Amritsar from jail, officials said.
Kaushambi district borders Prayagraj where the Maha Kumbh concluded on February 26.
The alleged BKI operative, a resident of Ramdas area in Amritsar, was lodged in a Punjab jail in a drug-trafficking case, they added. Grenades, gelatin rods, detonators and a pistol have been recovered from his possession, the police said.
The STF claimed that Masih was in regular contact with his handlers in Pakistan’s ISI and Swarn Singh, alias Jeevan Fauji, the head of a Germany-based BKI module.
He planned to escape to Portugal after executing the terror attack, the STF officials said.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, UP Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar said Masih planned a major terrorist attack during the Maha Kumbh but failed to execute his plan due to intensive security checks at the religious gathering. He had been staying in Lucknow, Kanpur and Kaushambi to execute the planned attack, the DGP added.
During his interrogation, Masih is believed to have told the investigators that he was one of the people who supplied the grenades used for an attack at a police post in Punjab earlier, which was planned by Swarn Singh. He also got supplies of heroin, grenades and firearms through drones from the ISI near the India-Pakistan border, Kumar said.
Masih had also been in touch with Virendra Singh, alias Ravi, an alleged BKI operative who was killed in an encounter in a joint operation of the UP Police and Punjab Police in Pilibhit district on December 23 last year, the DGP said.
Masih also told the interrogators that the BKI has developed a network of drugs and extortion in Punjab to fund terror activities, the police officer said.
Earlier in the day, Additional DGP (STF, Law and Order) Amitabh Yash said, “As per information, the arrested terrorist works for Swarn Singh alias Jeevan Fauji, the head of the Germany-based module of Babbar Khalsa International and is in direct touch with Pakistan-based ISI operatives.”
Among the seizures are three active hand grenades, two detonators, one foreign-made pistol and 13 cartridges of foreign make, the officer said.
Besides, a white coloured explosive powder, an Aadhaar card with a Ghaziabad address, one mobile phone without SIM card was also seized from his possession, he said.
—PTI inputs
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