CHANDIGARH: In a Bollywood-style escape, six prisoners including a dreaded Sikh militant, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, broke out of the Nabha jail early on Sunday, after their accomplices talked their way into the high-security facility and sprayed 200 bullets on the prison guards, none of whom, miraculously, was hurt. Besides Mintoo, the fugitives are fellow militant Kashmir Singh and four gangsters — Harjinder Singh Bhullar alias Vicky Gondar, Kulpreet Singh alias Neeta Deol, Gurpreet Singh Sekhon and Amanpreet Tonda.
The Nabha jail has three rings of security besides electronic surveillance. Sources said about 12 men in police uniform drove up to the jail in four vehicles and told the guards that they had two handcuffed ‘prisoners’ to hand over to the authorities. Once past the outer gate, they overpowered the guards and demanded the keys to the interior door, beyond which the six prisoners were waiting. The culprits then opened fire for cover and fled with the prisoners covered under blankets. The entire operation, from the arrival of the culprits at 8.30 am, took half an hour. It is suspected that they had help from the inside. One of the cars, a Hyundai Verna, suspected to have been used in the jailbreak, was abandoned in Kaithal district, Haryana. It had two different number plates. Sources said Parvinder Singh, who allegedly helped organise logistics for the jailbreak, was arrested by the UP police from Shamli district. He was reportedly present in one of the getaway vehicles.
“A dozen people exited the jail firing their guns and drove away, going round a railway crossing that was closed at the time,” an eyewitness told Express. Another eyewitness Sukhwinder Singh claimed the attackers had weapons concealed under blankets.
Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo and five others escaped from the Nabha jail in Punjab on Sunday after armed men in police uniform tricked the sentries into opening the gates and escaped with the inmates firing a hail of bullets.
Commenting on the incident, director general of police Suresh Arora said he would not rule out the connivance of jail staff. Sources said intelligence reports had alerted the police of a possible jailbreak. Police have obtained CCTV footage from the jail and other nearby establishments and sounded a wide alert across several neighbouring states.
A massive search operation has been launched and the borders with Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan have been sealed, with all vehicles being checked. Police were on edge around the State in the aftermath of the jailbreak. About 20 km from the prison, a woman travelling in a police vehicle was hit by a bullet fired by policemen when the vehicle jumped a barricade. She died.
Chief among the fugitives is 49-year-old Mintoo, an accused in 10 terror cases and a plot to kill Hindu leaders in 2013. He and fellow KLF operative Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi were deported from Thailand and arrested at the New Delhi airport on November 7, 2014. Among the gangsters who broke out, Vicky Gondar is a prime suspect in the murder of fellow gangster Sukha Kahlwan. The specialist in highway robberies and murders was arrested in December last year but escaped from the custody of the Ropar police before being recaptured.
Gurpreet Singh Sekhon alias Sonu Mudki, another inmate who escaped, hails from a family of brick kiln owners. Sekhon is a suspected accomplice in a murder case during the 2012 election in Punjab. He faces 13 criminal cases in Ferozepur, Faridkot, Moga, Bathinda and Chandigarh.
Kulpreet Singh alias Neeta Deol is a Dubai-based NRI who owns a transport business and is the prime suspect in the murder of Sukha Kahlwan. He faces six criminal cases. He is the son of a former deputy director in the animal husbandry department.
Amandeep Dhotian, a gangster, was arrested last year by the Amritsar police for theft cases, including carjackings. He belongs to the Dhotian gang.
Hailing from Galwandi village under Khanna police district, Kashmir Singh, another fugitive, is a militant. He shot at Punjab Shiv Sena leader Harvinder
Soni in Gurdaspur last year, and was booked for attempt to murder.
With Assembly elections just two months away, the security breach quickly became a political issue in Punjab. The State government has suspended additional director-general of police (prisons) M K Tiwari and dismissed the jail superintendent Paramjit Singh Sandhu and deputy superintendent Karanjit Singh Sandhu from service.
Punjab’s home secretary Jagpal Singh Sandhu has been told to inquire into the jailbreak and a special investigation team (SIT) has been set up in the intelligence department. “We will have the report within three days,” said deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The breakout has rung alarms in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and national security adviser Ajit Doval to deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. A report has been sought on the episode as well as the state of security in Punjab’s jails.