Khalistan Liberation Force Chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, who had escaped from the high security Nabha Central Jail located in Punjab’s Patiala on Sunday, was arrested in a joint operation by Punjab Police and Delhi Police from the Delhi railway station on Monday. After being questioned at a special cell office in New Friends Colony, he was sent to seven-day police custody by a Delhi Court.
Mintoo had escaped along with five others from jail after a group of 12 armed men stormed into the prison, some of them in police uniform, entered the high security Nabha Central Jail, attacked guards and escaped with Mintoo. Police teams of various states had launched a massive manhunt Sunday after the jailbreak.
The men came in four cars, kept three parked outside and used an SUV to reach on of the jail gates. While some of them wore turbans and had a beard, the rest were clean shaven. Officials said, that four of them wore police uniform and pretended they were bringing a handcuffed criminal, who turned out to actually be their accomplice, to jail. The jail superintendent and his deputy have been sacked.
The assailants who helped the prisoners escape hid weapons in blankets and had extra police uniforms, witnesses said.
Parminder Singh alias Painda was arrested by the UP police, later in the evening, who had played a key role in planning and executing the jailbreak, from Kairana in Shamli district. He was the one who was driving the SUV used in escape.
Mintoo is said to be linked to Pakistan’s ISI, and had been arrested in 2014 by Punjab Police from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on his return from Thailand. He faces charges in a number of cases, including the attack on Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in 2008.
Mintoo’s lawyer Jaspal Singh Manjhpur told that there was no need for his client to escape as he could have been released legally soon.
“The cases against him were very weak and in most of the cases he is described as the main conspirator. He has not been accused of direct involvement in any alleged militant activity,” his lawyer said.
