Punjab Police Busts ISI-Backed Terror Modules, Nine Held

• Nine accused, including four juveniles, apprehended in Punjab.
• Police recovered three illegal pistols, four petrol bottle bombs and nine live cartridges.
• One module was allegedly tasked with an attack at Jantar Mantar, police said.
• Probe also uncovered alleged surveillance of railway tracks for foreign handlers.

GG News Bureau
Chandigarh, 5th Aug: Punjab Police has busted two alleged ISI-backed cross-border terror modules and apprehended nine accused, including four juveniles, in a major operation, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said.

Police said three illegal pistols, four petrol bottle bombs and nine live cartridges were recovered during the operations. Preliminary investigation indicated that Pakistan-based ISI handlers were allegedly attempting to recruit local youth for terror-related activities.

According to police, one of the modules had allegedly been tasked with carrying out an attack at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar during the recent student protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

The first module was busted in the Rajasansi area and included 19-year-old Sukhman Singh and three juveniles. Police claimed that during interrogation, Sukhman disclosed that he was in contact with an ISI handler based in Pakistan and had been assigned the Jantar Mantar attack.

Police said Sukhman and his associates had travelled to Delhi but allegedly abandoned the plan because of heavy security arrangements. An associate from Uttar Pradesh was purportedly expected to provide weapons and explosives for the attack, but the plan did not materialise and the group returned to Punjab.

The investigation also indicated that members of the module had allegedly been assigned reconnaissance of police buildings and personnel in Punjab.

According to sources, Pakistan-based gangster and alleged terrorist Shahzad Bhatti is suspected of being behind the module. Investigators are also examining possible links with another module previously intercepted by the Kolkata Special Task Force.

Second Module Linked to Railway Surveillance Probe
Punjab Police said the second module emerged during an investigation into suspicious CCTV cameras found installed near railway tracks last month.

The investigation allegedly revealed that footage captured by cameras near railway tracks was being shared with foreign handlers.

Those apprehended in the two cases include Vansh Kumar, 19, and Anmol Singh alias Sahil, 20, from Patti in Tarn Taran; Harman Singh alias Hammu, 24; Sukhdev Singh, 30; and Sukhman Singh, 19, from Amritsar. Four other accused are juveniles.

Amritsar Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said police teams, acting on intelligence, intercepted Vansh Kumar and a juvenile associate and recovered a .32-bore country-made pistol and three live cartridges from their possession.

Further investigation indicated that financial transactions linked to the installation of surveillance cameras near railway tracks were allegedly made through Paytm by Sukhdev Singh, who was lodged in Amritsar Central Jail, at the instance of fellow inmate Harman Singh alias Hammu.

Both were subsequently brought on production warrants and formally arrested in the case, police said. Further investigation into the alleged cross-border network and its handlers is underway.