KCF Panjwar hit man held

Manjit Singh, a resident of Samrawa village in Jalandhar district, was arrested from the Jalandhar bus stand yesterday afternoon.

Following an information received by the police that both the militants had received a consignment of arms and explosives from ISI agents in June last, the cops had laid a dragnet to nab them. Two special teams were formed under the supervision of SP Shiv Kumar and ASP Gautam Cheema to conduct raids.

During the interrogation, the two disclosed that they were in touch with the six-member nodule led by Amarjit Singh of Cheema Khurd, which was busted on October 20. A conspiracy was hatched to cause bomb explosions in public places, trains, buses, vital installations like bridges and oil depots and to hit VVIP targets using human bombs. The six-member terrorist nodule was the action group for KCF Panjwar. Kala, a resident of Dadumal village in Jalandhar, and Manjit Singh were assigned the role of co-ordinating activities, supplying information, storing explosives and training recruits.

Yadav said Kala, a notorious extremist, first came in contact with Gurdeep Singh Deepa, Hira and Satnam Singh of KCF Panjwar in 1990. After long stints abroad, he finally reached Lahore, where he was lodged in Green Town. There he met Paramjit Singh Panjwar and was trained in using the latest weapons. He was working towads the unification of various militant outfits also.

In November 1993, Panjwar and Dr Sohan Singh, chief of the Panthic Committee, went to Nepal and before leaving Pakistan, Panjwar formally designated Kala as the second-in-command and deputy chief of the outfit, the SSP said. He added that subsequently, Sohan Singh was arrested but Panjwar managed to escape to Pakistan and Kala was sent to the country with two heroin smugglers. On January 5, 1995, the three were arrested by the Customs Department and 24 kg heroin recovered. Kala was convicted and sentenced to two years8217; rigourous imprisonment under the NDPS Act by the Sessions Court in Amritsar.

Gaurav Yadav said that in June this year, Kala was out of jail on a six-week parole and immediately contacted Panjwar, who asked him to get in touch with the nodule headed by Amarjit Singh.

Manjit Singh, he said, had come into contact with Federation activists while studying in Guru Nanak College, Jandiala, and had been told to assist Kala in the pick-up of arms and hand them over to another group.