PUNJAB POLICE AVERTS POSSIBLE TARGET KILLING IN J&K; ONE MEMBER OF PAK-BASED TERROR MODULE HELD

— POLICE TEAMS ALSO RECOVER SOPHISTICATED AUTOMATIC CHINESE PISTOL ALONG WITH MAGAZINE & 4 LIVE CARTRIDGES

— ARRESTED ACCUSED LOVEPREET WAS BEING HANDLED BY PAK-BASED OPERATIVES, SAYS DGP GAURAV YADAV

— ACCUSED RECEIVED MONEY IN HIS BANK ACCOUNT TO ACCOMPLISH THE TASK: AIG CI NAVJOT MAHAL

CHANDIGARH/JALANDHAR, April 23:

In a major blow to organised crime, Punjab Police has averted possible target killing planned by cross-border operatives with the arrest of one member linked to a Pak-based terror module, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

The arrested accused has been identified as Lovepreet Singh alias Picho of village Udho Nangal in Amritsar. Police teams have also recovered one .30-bore automatic Chinese pistol along with a magazine and four live cartridges from his possession.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that acting swiftly on the intelligence and human-intelligence inputs, Police teams from Counter Intelligence Jalandhar laid a special Naka in the area of Rama Mandi and arrested the accused person after recovering the sophisticated automatic pistol from his possession.

He said that the probe revealed that the arrested accused Lovepreet was being handled by Pakistan-based operatives, who tasked him to carry out target killing in the Jammu and Kashmir region to create fear and unrest in the society.

Sharing more details, SSP Counter Intelligence Jalandhar Navjot Singh Mahal said that the accused has received money in his bank account via Dubai and procured the pistol along with ammunition from the area of Samba in J&K. Further investigations are going on, he added.

A case FIR No. 25 dated 22.04.2024 has been registered under section 25 of the Arms Act and section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) Amritsar.