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Journalism of Courage
DERA BASSI, Aug 6: The Patiala police have arrested a top terrorist Avtar Singh Seoli alias Avtar Singh Zindabad, head of the Zindabad Force, who with his associates had planned to blow up the Punjab Meats Limited (PML) plant at Dera Bassi, along with his two associates — Rishi Pal and Sukhvir Singh — at Fatehpur Behra village, on the Punjab-Haryana border, last night.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Patiala range, Rajinder Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police Parampal Singh Sidhu said that the police acting on a tip-off laid a trap and arrested the three persons, who were riding a stolen Bajaj Chetak scooter and seized arms and ammunition from them.
The seizures included an automatic loading rifle (ALR), 14 gelatin sticks, six detonators, one country-made 303 pistol along with five live rounds, and one foreign-made 32 bore revolver with four live cartridges besides a large quantity of other cartridges both live and spent.
DIG Rajinder Singh, said that the arrested militant during interrogation had revealed that one of his associates, who was based in Haryana, had introduced him to a leader of the Kashmir based Sikh militant organisation, Kitu- a Sikh Jathabandi, who had assured to help him with a large amount of cash and arms and ammunition if he succeeded in making a major strike in Punjab.
The DIG said that the said terrorist was a proclaimed offender in 14 cases, eight in Punjab and six in Haryana, from 1992 onwards. He said that Seoli was a listed terrorist, who had been closely associated with Babbar Khalsa Leaders including Harjit Kala, Sajjan Singh Happy and Jora Singh Mandoli but was later thrown out of the organisation.
From 1992 to 1995 Avtar Singh kept a low profile. He became active after indulging in looting and robberies in Punjab and Haryana.
On interrogations, Avtar Singh had admitted that he had stolen a scooter from Chandigarh on July 21 and had robed a liquor vend in Barwala in Haryana on July 28 from where he had looted Rs 2,000. He had also stolen three cars one each from Bilaspur, Naraingarh and Shahbad Markanda. He admitted that he had planned to kill certain persons in Haryana and indulge in extortions.
The police officers said that with his arrest the police had achieved a major break through after Jarnail Shatrana since Avtar Singh had planned to create terror on the Punjab-Haryana border in the Dera Bassi area.
DIG Rajinder Singh said that Waryam Singh, brother of Avtar Singh and Avtar Singh’s associates, Jasbir Kaur and Ranbir Singh, were nabbed by a Haryana police party while Avtar Singh had managed to escape after threatening to shoot a officer at a police naka. A case on this count had also been registered against him in Haryana.
The DIG said that the members of the special police team led by Dera Bassi Deputy Superintendent of Police Sursewak Singh Toor would be suitably rewarded.
SSP Parampal Singh Sidhu said that Avtar Singh had confessed to at least four or five killings, which included killing of one person each at Nabha and Rajpura. He had also admitted that since he was based in the Lalru area, he had easy inter-state mobility.
