A plot to assassinate top religious and political leaders by the banned Babbar Khalsa International militant outfit was thwarted by the Delhi Police special cell with the arrest of two suspected BKI members from Delhi and Punjab on Thursday.
DCP (crime branch) Ashok Chand claimed the two alleged militants, Sarabpreet Singh alias Prince, 30, and his childhood friend Jaswinder Singh, 30, were tasked by BKI chief Wadhawa Singh and an operative, Kulbir Singh, to kill three religious leaders in Punjab and Haryana and some political leaders in Punjab during the coming Assembly elections. The plot was hatched in Hong Kong by Wadhawa, who promised to provide the two suspects financial and logistics support.
The two arrested men were produced Friday before a court here, which remanded them to police custody for 10 days, till January 2.
The two told interrogators the BKI had made inroads into several major Indian cities and was on a major recruitment drive. “They were tasked to eliminate Baba Ram Rahim of Ambala (Haryana), Baba Pyara Singh of Banihara (Punjab) and Baba Ashutosh of Ludhiana (Punjab), along with some Punjab political leaders. Two consignments of arms, ammunition and fake currency was received by Sarabpreet, and he was waiting for another consignment,” the DCP said.
Mr Chand said Sarabpreet was the first to be arrested, when a Ford Ikon was intercepted in northwest Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh. His arrest led the police to Jaswinder, who was held from Anandpur Saheb.