Thaindian News

By Parminder Singh Bariana and Alkesh Sharma
Hoshiarpur/Jalandhar (Punjab), Aug 17 (IANS) Punjab Police are seeking more information about the arrest of two Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terrorists in Germany for allegedly conspiring to murder Radha Soami Satsang Beas Dera (sect) head Baba Gurinder Singh, officials said Tuesday.

“We are looking into all aspects of this matter. We would also contact our German counterparts and their government to have more details about the accused arrested there,” Inspector General of Police (Jalandhar) Ishwar Chand Sharma told IANS.

German police had arrested KZF terrorists Gurmeet Singh alias Bagga and Bhupinder Singh alias Bhinda from Frankfurt a couple of days ago on the charges of hatching a conspiracy to murder Baba Gurinder Singh, who is on a month-long Europe tour, in Vienna last month.

“In association with our intelligence wing, police is ascertaining the details of their (Bagga and Bhinda) passports and other documents that they had used while going abroad. We will also check their links with various other deras (sects) of Punjab and also verify that whether they were getting any funding from here or not,” Sharma said.

Police sources said that a special police team will also be sent to Germany to interrogate Bagga and Bhinda.

However, family members of the accused, when contacted, expressed ignorance about the arrest and said that they were not in touch with them for the last many months.

“Gurmeet had gone to Germany around seven years ago and he was staying at Hamburg. We had sent him there after taking a loan of a few lakhs of rupees,” his father Paramjit Singh told IANS, at his dilapidated house here in Jhajj village in Hoshiarpur district, 130 km from Chandigarh.

“Initially he sent the money to pay the loan amount but later stopped sending money. Our financial condition is very poor and we are struggling to earn our daily bread. In fact for the last one and a half years, we have not even talked to him,” said Singh.

Bagga’s younger brother Gurdeep Singh was arrested with RDX by Jagraon police in 2008 but later he was released on bail. However, he could not be contacted for comments on this issue.

“We did not know about the arrest of our son, only you have informed us about it just now. It is very shocking. I have full belief in him and he cannot indulge in any such activity,” Bagga’s mother Nirmal Kaur told IANS.

“Earlier my son Gurdeep was falsely implicated in a case of keeping explosives and now Germany police has arrested Bagga. I have not talked to Bagga for the last many months and I really do not know how to react to this news,” she added.

According to Punjab Police officials, Bhinda, who hails from Shadipur village in Jalandhar district, is a dreaded criminal and two murder cases are registered against him in different police stations. In India, he was the member of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF).

“Bhinda had left his house in 1992. He had also stayed in Britain and Nigeria before settling in Germany. Once he had sent Rs.55,000 but police took away the money,” his father Gurcharan Singh told IANS at his house in Shadipur.

“However, for the last five years, we have lost contact with him and I do not have any idea about his whereabouts. I suspect that there is a deep conspiracy and it is an attempt of Indian government to blemish the image of Sikhs,” he alleged.

Bhinda is one of six siblings and one of his brothers is also staying in Britain.

In May 2009, a group of radicals had shot dead Dera Sachkhand Ballan leader Ramanand and injured Sant Niranjan Dass in Vienna.