Uttar Pradesh ATS arrests arms supplier to Khalistani terrorists

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad on Sunday arrested an alleged arms supplier to Khalistani terrorists, a senior officer said.

Additional Director General of the ATS, Dhruva Kant Thakur, said, "The UP ATS has arrested Javed, an arms supplier to Khalistani terrorists, from Hapur. Javed is a resident of the Kithore area of Meerut. His interrogation is on and the Punjab Police has been informed about the arrest."

Thakur said Javed has also supplied illegal arms to criminals in Amritsar.

He was arrested following an input from the state special cell, Amritsar, the ADG said.

In a statement issued here, the UP ATS said,"Javed had supplied illegal weapon to Dharminder Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, who was involved in the murder of a senior RSS office-bearer of Punjab, Brig (retd) Jagdish Kumar Gagneja. The NIA is probing the case. Ashish, an accomplice of Javed, was arrested earlier."

Dharminder Singh is a member of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and currently lodged in the Tihar Jail.

In November 2019, Javed on the instructions of Dharminder Singh, had given three pistols to his aide, the ATS said in the statement.

ATS officials said a number of pro-Khalistan terrorists have been caught in western UP and the Punjab Police was searching Javed for quite some time.

In May, in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh ATS and the Special Operation Group of the Punjab Police, Tirath Singh, a suspected terrorist owing allegiance to the Khalistan movement was arrested from Thapar Nagar in Meerut. He was handed over to the Punjab Police after interrogation.

In February 2020, the UP ATS arrested Ashish, a key arms supplier of Khalistan Liberation Force, from Haridwar.

In November 2019, the ATS arrested a man and his accomplice from the state's Shamli district for their alleged involvement in supplying arms and ammunition to pro-Khalistan terror groups.