PATIALA/NEW DELHI: Three persons, including an assistant superintendent and head warden of Nabha jail were today arrested for criminal conspiracy in Sunday's jailbreak incident even as a joint team of Punjab and Delhi police interrogated KLA chief Harminder Mintoo, who was among the escapees.
Assistant jail superintendent Bhim Singh, head warden Jagmeet Singh and a sweet shop owner Tejinder Sharma have been arrested on the charges of abetment and criminal conspiracy in the jailbreak case, police said.
Singh had allegedly met the accused a day before their daring escape and his mobile phone was claimed to have been used for plotting the jailbreak.
Police have booked 29 people, including nine jail officials, under relevant sections of IPC in connection with the incident, officials said.
Meanwhile, a joint team of Delhi and Punjab police quizzed Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) militant Mintoo, who was apprehended at the Nizamuddin railway station in Delhi on Monday.
It has emerged during the interrogation that Mintoo had access to mobile phone in the Nabha jail, sources said.
"He is claiming it was a common cell phone used by other inmates also," the source said.
Mintoo said he used the phone to "call only his family members" but sources said police will examine through the Call Data Records if he was in contact with ISI.
"Also we will be examining if he had access to social media and Skype as one of the escapees was a regular on Facebook from inside the jail," sources said.
Sources said Mintoo will be questioned about whether he was planning to revive the activities of his outfit and shift to Malaysia or Germany.
"Mintoo is a cool-headed and tactful person. He told us many things but maintained silence on many. Whatever he has told us, we will check with Punjab Police to get more details about the jailbreak case and how it was planned. We will also be questioning him about where the others (escapees) could be hiding," said a senior police officer privy to the probe.
Meanwhile, several teams of Delhi Police, including Special Cell and Crime Branch, are looking for leads with regard to the whereabouts of Kashmir Singh, another escapee, who had accompanied Mintoo to Delhi and separated from him at Kashmere Gate bus stop, said a senior police officer.
Two close aides of alleged mastermind of the jailbreak Parminder Singh alias Penda have been arrested in Dehradun with police suspecting that the incident may have been plotted at their hideout in the city. Parminder was arrested with a cache of firearms near Kairana in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district on Sunday evening itself. Geeta Arora, wife of Penda's friend Sunil Arora with whom
the jailbreak mastermind was staying in a rented accommodation in the city's Raipur area and an aide Aditya Mehra were arrested from their hideout yesterday, SSP, Dehradun Sadanand Date said.
However, Sunil Arora along with another accomplice managed to escape, he said.
Sunil is a close friend of Penda who was staying with the Aroras for six months till he left the city five days before the jailbreak.
Date said the jailbreak in all likelihood was plotted at their hideout in the city.
Several fake vehicle number plates, voter IDs, SIM cards, mobile phones, bullets, material used for making bomb and Rs two lakh cash have been recovered from the house where the duo was arrested, the SSP said.
Meanwhile, Parminder, who was lodged in a jail in Muzaffarnagar, was sent to Punjab following a production warrant from an Ambala court.
On Sunday, Mintoo, another militant Kashmir Singh, besides gangsters Amandeep Dhothian, Vicky Gounder, Gurpreet Sekhon and Neeta Deol were freed by a group of armed men in police uniform amid a fusillade of gunfire.