A detailed probe conducted by the National Investigation Agency following seizure of arms, ammunition and cash at Bastara Toll Plaza by Haryana Police in May last year has traced them to a consignment dropped into Indian territory by drones from Pakistan.
On May 5 2022, at Bastara Toll Plaza, Haryana Police had intercepted an Innova car carrying Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi, Amandeep Singh alias Deepa, Parminder Singh alias Pinder and Bhupinder Singh who were on their way to Adilabad in Telangana. A search mounted on their vehicle led to the recovery of three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), one pistol with two magazines, 31 rounds of ammunition and Rs 1.30 lakh in the Innova, which had been modified to conceal these in a specially designed cavity.
These were part of the consignment dropped into Indian territory by drones launched and navigated from Pakistan, NIA sources said. The NIA investigations revealed that multiple consignments of arms, explosives and drugs had been sent from Pakistan by terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, a ‘designated terrorist’, through drones to pre-decided locations near the Indo-Pak border, an NIA spokesperson said.
These consignment of arms, ammunition, explosives and drugs, according to NIA sources, were received by Gopi, Deepa, Akash alias Akashdeep, Sukhbeer Singh alias Jashan and Jarmalpreet Singh. While the drugs are a source of funding as money is raised by selling them in India, the weapons and ammunition were to be used for the various terror operatives planned by the hired operatives here in India, NIA sources revealed.
Gopi and others were tasked to collect the contraband and deliver part-consignments to various places in different places in the country to carry out terror attacks in the name of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a banned terrorist organisation. The Innova car was used by the accused persons for transporting such consignments.
The case was initially registered at Police Station Madhuban, Haryana. The NIA took over the case on May 24, 2022 and filed the first chargesheet against 6 accused, including Harwinder Rinda, in October, 2022. A supplementary chargesheet was thereafter filed against another three accused in March 2023.
Gopi had also amassed a large amount of cash through smuggling these contraband items. Investigations have exposed his modus operandi of depositing this money in bank accounts of others, the NIA spokesperson said.
The NIA team seized Rs 5.5 lakhs from one such account. The team also recovered 1 lakh rupees that Gopi had stashed away, raising the total recovery to Rs. 7,80,000 in this case. This amount of cash and the Innova vehicle were formally seized on Tuesday as ‘proceeds of terrorism’, under the provisions of 25 UA (P) Act 1967 by the NIA.