Breakthrough: Tasked with eliminating actor Salman Khan, juvenile among 2 accused held

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, the Special Cell of Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have apprehended a juvenile involved in rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) terror attack on Punjab Police Intelligence headquarters in Mohali and another accused in Shahbad, Kurukshetra in connection with the recovery of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), said an official.

The rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) was fired at the third floor of the highly-guarded intelligence wing headquarters in Mohali's Sector 77 on May 9, they said.

Special CP, Special Cell HGS Dhaliwal said that two persons have been apprehended in two separate cases. An accused who is a juvenile, a resident of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh has been held in connection with the case of the RPG terror attack. Meanwhile, another Arshdeep Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran, Punjab, was wanted in Shahbad, Kurukshetra IED recovery case.

The third accused Deepak Surakhpur from Haryana was already arrested.

"The arrested accused were tasked by Pakistan-based gangster-terrorist Harvinder Singh alias Rinda and Canada-based gangster turned terrorist Lakhbir Singh Landa to carry out the attack. They are associates of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwapuria and are also wanted for gangster Rana Kandowalia's murder in Amritsar," Special CP Dhaliwal said.

"The apprehended accused along with Deepak Surakhpur and Monu Dagar were also tasked with eliminating Bollywood actor Salman Khan by Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria syndicate," the official further said.

After the RPG attack at the Punjab Police headquarters in Mohali, the accused stayed in several hideouts spread across as many as 18 states.

Pak-based Rinda was regularly funding them, the police official added.

"They have been arrested by the team of Counter Intelligence, Special Cell, led by ACP Rahul Vikram, Inspectors Dalip, Vikram, and Nishant, under the supervision of DCP Manishi Chandra from Jamnagar, Gujarat," said HGS Dhaliwal.

"The apprehended juvenile is being produced before the juvenile justice board. While the arrested accused Arshdeep is being produced before the concerned UAPA Court. Further investigation is in progress," he further added.

On May, 9, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the Punjab Police's intelligence headquarters in Mohali, Punjab in the late evening.

During the course of the investigation, it was established that the attack was a conspiracy of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and local gangsters.