In a major breakthrough in the sensational murder of Shaurya Chakra Awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, the Punjab Police, on Tuesday, arrested the key accused in the case identified as Gurwinder Singh alias Baba alias Raja from Tarn Taran.
Baba’s two aides, identified as Sandeep Singh alias Kala of Amritsar and Gurpreet Singh alias Randhawa, were also arrested. The police have recovered one hand-grenade, one RDX-IED, two .30 bore pistols along with magazines and 13 live cartridges, 635 grams heroin, 100 grams opium, Rs 36.90 lakhs drug money, and one Mitsubishi Lancer car from their possession.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said Baba, who is a proclaimed offender (PO) of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), had played a pivotal role in the killing of Sandhu by providing weapons to shooters. A probe revealed that he is a close associate of notorious gangsters Sukhpreet Singh alias Harry Chatha and Sukhmeetpal Singh alias Sukh Bikhariwal, the prime suspect in the murder of the Shaurya Chakra Awardee’s, he said.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the recovered explosives, arms and ammunitions were to be used to disrupt peace and instill a sense of terror in Punjab around the Independence Day, said the DGP.
Two motorcycle-borne unidentified assailants had shot dead Balwinder Singh Sandhu at his residence in Bhikhiwind in the border district of Tarn Taran in October 2020.
Sandhu and his brother Ranjit Singh and their wives, Jagdish Kaur and Balraj Kaur, respectively, were awarded Shaurya Chakra in 1993 for their armed struggle against militancy in Punjab through the ’80s and early ’90s. The civilian family was on the hit list of militants ever since.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ferozepur Range Jaskaran Singh said the Tarn Taran Police Party, equipped with reliable inputs that Baba, along with his aide Sandeep, is on the way to Khadoor Sahib, intercepted the white Lancer car in which both were travelling and managed to arrest them.
Two pistols with loaded magazines, 635 grams heroin, 100 gram opium and Rs 3.90 lakh drug money was recovered from the car, he added.
The IGP said later, following the disclosures of Gurwinder Baba, the police also recovered one hand grenade, one RDX-IED and Rs 33 lakhs drug-money from the location pinpointed in the area of Police District Batala. Preliminary investigations suggest that the recovered explosives, arms, and drugs were smuggled via drones from Pakistan, he added.