2 Aides Of Khalistani Terrorists Arrested In Delhi

Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested two members of the Canada-based Arsh Dalla-Sukha Duneke gang and one of them was involved in the murder of British Kabaddi team captain Sandeep Nangal Ambian in March last year, officials said on Saturday.

Sukha Duneke was killed by unidentified men in the Canadian city of Winnipeg on September 20 in alleged inter-gang rivalry.

Police said that the arrested have been identified as Harjeet Singh alias Harry Maud and Harry Rajpura alias Bada Harry.

Police said the duo, wanted by the National Investigation Agency and the Punjab Police, were the most trusted operatives of foreign-based gangster-turned-terrorists Sukha Duneke, Arsh Dalla, Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Harvinder Singh alias Rinda.

Arshdeep Dalla and Landa are believed to be staying in Canada, while Rinda is hiding in Pakistan, they said.

Police said these foreign-based gangsters constitute a terror-gangster syndicate engaged in anti-national activities within the country in collaboration with Pakistan's ISI.

The special commissioner of police (special cell) said that Harjeet Singh alias Harry Maud was one of the main accused in the killing of British Kabaddi Team Captain Sandeep Nangal Ambian in Punjab's Jalandhar in March last year while he was attended a tournament as a chief guest.

The duo had also executed the murder of one Manpreet alias Challa and Manpreet alias Vicky in Punjab on January 13, 2022 and one Yashbir in Haryana in March 22, 2022.

Police said that these murders in India and Canada are believed to be a result of inter-gang rivalry.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pratiksha Godara said Harry Maud and Harry Rajpura were on the run for the last two years engaging in a series of criminal activities spanning various states.

"Both of them were posing a challenge to the internal security of the country while working at the behest of terrorists sitting abroad. They were rampantly involved in target killings, extortions, firing for gain and cross-border smuggling of illegal firearms and drugs as well," said Pratiksha Godara.

Speaking about operation that led to their arrest, Pratiksha Godara said as part of the intelligence-gathering process of Delhi Police Special Cell, it was discovered that Neeraj Faridpuria, a fugitive gangster from south Haryana believed to be in Portugal, had established connections with Canada-based Dalla.  Police said that they had arranged safe havens for their associates and sought to expand their criminal network within Delhi-NCR, adding that to address this threat, technical surveillance efforts were focused on the southeastern region of Haryana, and informants were activated to gather crucial information.

During initial leads one highly suspicious person whose identity was later established as Munesh Lamba, a resident of Ballabgarh in Haryana and college friend of Neeraj Faridpuria, was arrested on September 6, 2023. Munesh Lamba made some shocking revelations and it surfaced that the top operative of the alliance has been provided shelter by Neeraj Faridpuria in Faridabad on the directions of Arsh Dalla.  Acting on this lead, a police team arrested Harry Rajpura from Faridabad on September 7. He was also wanted in three cases of NIA and Punjab.  On the disclosure of Rajpura, Maud was arrested from Delhi's Sarita Vihar.

Police officials said Arshdeep Dalla and Sukha Duneke were primarily engaged in targeted killings and extortion. They employed their network of sources to identify potential targets in India and conveyed instructions to Harry Maud, as well as Harry Rajpura, to carry out these assignments.  Whereas Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Harvinder Singh alias Rinda focused more on the trafficking of illicit weapons and narcotics across international borders. Maud and Rajpura were tasked with facilitating the transportation of drone-delivered shipments to various recipients.  Initially employed as a shooter, Maud ascended in rank, ultimately assuming responsibility for overseeing all organised criminal activities of the syndicate, police said.

The extorted funds and the proceeds of smuggling are routed through Hawala channels to the foreign-based kingpins, from where they are redirected to these operatives in India for execution of criminal activities. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)