Nabha Jailbreak: Escaped prisoners were a prize catch

November 27, 2016

Chandigarh, Nov 27: The Punjab Police and security agencies are investigating the recent activities of the five prisoners who escaped from the maximum security Nabha Jailpremises on Sunday following a well-planned attack by unidentified armed men.

nabhaPolice sources said CCTV footage of the jail, call records of jail officials and others and posts on social media sites were being studied to know the involvement of people in the sensational jailbreak.

Of the prisoners who escaped, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo was arrested in November 2014 as he returned to India from Thailand after being deported from there.

He was nabbed from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in New Delhi along with an aide after security and intelligence agencies tracked him.

Mintoo's aide Gurpreet Singh, also deported from Thailand, was also arrested.

Mintoo is wanted in several terror cases in Punjab. Police had claimed that Mintoo was planning terrorist strikes in the region.

"The KLF chief was wanted in 10 terrorist offences and his key aide Gurpreet Singh had been tasked to execute a conspiracy of assassinating Hindu leaders in 2013 which was foiled by Punjab Police," Punjab Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Hardeep Singh Dhillon had said then.

Punjab Police traced and located them in Thailand in co-ordination with central agencies. On November 7, they were brought from Thailand to New Delhi in co-ordination with Thai authorities and arrested.

Two Punjab police officers camped in Thailand for three weeks while tracking the terrorists there.

"It was established that Harminder Singh was using a fake Malaysian passport issued in the name of Gurdeep Singh (Passport A-22967012 issued in Ipoh, Malaysia) and a fake Malaysian ID Card No. 610320086949," ADG Dhillon said.

Mintoo was trying to revive and strengthen the KLF with foreign-based supporters. He visited Pakistan and later travelled to Italy, Belgium, Germany, France and other European countries for 11 months (June 2013 to May 2014) before coming to Southeast Asia.

The Punjab Police came to know about the conspiracy to eliminate Hindu leaders after sleeper cells were busted by the police in 2013-14.

Mintoo had close contact with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers.

Another terrorist, Kashmir Singh Galwadi, who was involved in an attack on a Punjab Hindu leader in Gurdaspur in 2013, also escaped. He was also associated with the pro-Khalistan movement.

Gangster Vicky Gonder, arrested in December last year, was suspected to be behind the murderous attack on another gangster, Sukha Kahlwan, near Jalandhar in January 2015. Kahlwan was in police protection and was being taken for a court hearing when the attack took place at Phagwara town.

Kahlwan was gunned down while the police personnel accompanying him failed to repulse the attack.

Gonder and other gangsters had been in the news for running the affairs of their gangs from inside Punjab jails and also using social media.

Gangster Gurpreet Sekhon, who also escaped on Sunday, led another gang which was involved in murder, kidnappings, extortion and highway robberies.

The other two gangsters, Neeta Deol and Vikramjit, were also involved in various crimes in Punjab and other places.

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Agencies
June 12,2020

The West Bengal government has suspended two women teachers in East Burdwan district on the charge of teaching pre-primary students from an English alphabet book consisting of a portion derogatory to the people with a dark complexion.

While presenting the alphabets with corresponding words and images, the book says U is for "Ugly". The illustration printed beside the letter is that of a boy with a dark complexion.

"The book is not part of the textbooks referred by the education department. It was introduced by the school itself. We have zero-tolerance for acts which instil prejudices into the minds of students," Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters here on Thursday.

He said the two teachers of a local municipality-run school have been placed under suspension with immediate effect based on a preliminary investigation and stricter action would be taken against them later.

Though the school is now closed because of the lockdown, the matter came to light when the father of a student of the school was teaching him with the help of that book. He informed other parents and the education department was apprised of the issue, sources said.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Vijayawada, Aug 9: The number of those killed in the fire at a hotel being used as a COVID-19 facility in Vijayawada rose to 10 on Sunday, said Vikrant Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government announced Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia each to the families of those who lost their lives in the incident.

According to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Office (CMO), Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also ordered an in-depth probe into the accident and directed authorities to take steps to ensure better medical services to the victims of the accident.

"The hotel was taken on lease and run by Ramesh Hospitals, a private hospital where COVID-19 patients were being treated. 40 patients and 10 medical staff were at the hotel at the time of the incident. 

Officials were directed to launch immediate rescue measures," said Mekathoti Sucharitha, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the loss of the lives in the fire mishap and spoke to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy over the phone and enquired about the accident.

The mishap took place in hotel Swarna Palace which was taken on lease and run by a private hospital for COVID patients.

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