Chandigarh: Three members of the Pakistan-ISI’s sponsored Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terror module, involved in grenade attack at a police post in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, were killed in a joint operation of Punjab police and Uttar Pradesh (UP) police in Puranpur area of Piliphit district of UP, Monday morning.
Stating that the accused operatives were identified as Varinder Singh alias Ravi, 23, Gurwinder Singh, 25, and Jashanpreet Singh alias Partap Singh, 18, trio residents of Kalanaur town of Gurdaspur, Director General of Police, Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, said that police teams in UP have also recovered two AK-47 rifles, two 9 mm Glock pistols and ammunition from their possession.
#WATCH | Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh: ADG Bareilly Zone Ramit Sharma says, "On 18 December a grenade attack took place in Punjab's Gurdaspur. Three notorious criminals of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) were involved in it. There was credible input on which action was being taken… pic.twitter.com/vzLbiidk2G
— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2024
#WATCH | Pilibhit SP, Avinash Pandey says "A grenade was thrown at a police station in Punjab's Gurdaspur and in that sequence, Gurdaspur Police arrived here. They informed us that the three accused are hiding here in Puranpur...When they were chased and stopped, when we… https://t.co/wFJbloW6gD pic.twitter.com/ZMNH6SISxe
— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2024
Trio suspects had sustained serious injuries in the encounter and were rushed to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Puranpur where they succumbed to their injuries later in the day.
The development came in less than week after some unknown persons hurled a hand grenade at Bakshiwala police post under the jurisdiction of Kalanaur police station in Gurdaspur on December 18, 2024. Pertinently, terrorist organisation KZF had used social media-platform to claim responsibility for this act of terror.
DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that this terror module is controlled by Pak-based Ranjeet Singh Nita, the chief of KZF, and operated by Greece-based Jaswinder Singh Mannu, a native of Agwan village in Kalanaur town.
Notably, accused Varinder alias Ravi, who was leading the module, also belongs to Agwan village and he was being further controlled and masterminded by UK based Jagjeet Singh, reported to be working in the British Army and using assumed identity Fateh Singh Baghi, using which he also claimed the responsibility of the grenade attack, he added.
Terming this operation as a classic example of inter-state cooperation in which police forces of UP and Punjab worked together, the DGP Yadav said that the information, which was received by the Punjab police, was immediately shared with the UP police and a joint operation was launched against the perpetrators.
Sharing operation details, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Border Range, Satinder Singh said that following inputs about suspects fled to UP and taking shelter somewhere there at Pilibhit, Gurdaspur police immediately informed the Pilibhit police and also moved police teams from Gurdaspur to Pilibhit to launch a joint operation.
Police teams had successfully traced the accused persons and when confronted they opened fire at the police teams, prompting police parties to retaliate, he said, while adding that during the exchange of fire the accused persons had sustained bullet injuries and were immediately taken to CHC Puranpur for urgent medical treatment.