According to police, alleged suspect Mandeep Singh arrived from Canada while Mitha had come from Doha in Qatar. Both operatives had travelled to Punjab on valid documents and had no history of involvement in crime, said investigators.
CHANDIGARH/SURREY – An Indo-Canadian man from Surrey who annually visits his native Punjab to fly pigeons in pigeon flying competitions was arrested along with another NRI from Doha in what Punjabi police claim to be a Tiger Force (KTF) and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) sleeper terror cells.
Punjab Police claim the duo were allegedly preparing to target different Dera (sect) heads, retired top-ranking police officers, and activists of right-wing Hindu organisations.
Top police sources told media the month-long and carefully crafted operation reached a decisive stage on Tuesday night when cops arrested Mandeep Singh of Surrey, BC, an alleged operative of the KTF, from Jagraon near Ludhiana, and Arvinder Singh alias Mitha Singh allegedly of BKI from a village adjoining Nawanshahr.
According to police, the duo had entered Punjab about two months ago with Mandeep arriving from Canada while Mitha had come from Doha in Qatar. Both operatives had travelled to Punjab on valid documents and had no history of involvement in crime, said investigators.
It should be noted that the Narendra Modi government has taken many former radical Sikhs off the so-called Black List and were freely giving them travel visas. Sources in the politically-charged Sikh community in Vancouver said that those looking to travel to India with brand spanking new visas could be targeted once they land on hushed up charges.
Asked to comment on the arrest of the Surrey man, they said the information could have been provided by those getting visas now or it could be another set up by Indian authorities to taint the Canadian Sikh community.
“How did they find out that two innocent Sikhs with no criminal record were part of these so-called terror cells,” a local analyst said. “Someone was obviously setting these two young men up for this arrest especially after the recent attack on this Dera man Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale in Ludhiana.”
There could be some truth to this theory as police claim that it is another Indo-Canadian, in fact also Surrey-based man Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegedly aligned with the KTF, who was Mandeep Singh’s handler. We couldn’t track down Nijjar for comment on this story and his alleged involvement but a senior Punjabi journalist told us that he is an “unstable” individual.
Punjab police also claim that the other arrested man Mitha Singh had developed links with Germany based son of Wadhawa Singh, BKI chief who is presently based in Pakistan.
“Mitha was taking instructions from Pakistan- based Karanbir Singh an associate of Wadhawa Singh,” police source said.
BKI’s Karanbir Singh, who hails from Hoshiarpur, had escaped from the police custody after he was arrested for killing a dera head in Doaba.
Both modules were working in tandem to prepare strike groups. On the hit list were some dera heads, activists of Shiv Sena outfits and retired police officers who were on the forefront of fighting insurgency in Punjab.
Police allege these sleeper cells had done scouting missions of the movements of a politically active and retired director general of police (DGP)-rank officer who owes allegiance to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal.
Police teams are conducting raids at different places to nab other members of these cells.
“The new and disturbing aspect of this case is that the BKI and KTF are now roping in Sikh youth with no criminal record to fox the security agencies. Mandeep and Arvinder were further luring Sikh youths with clean image to launch strikes,” an investigator said.
