CHANDIGARH: Till now nine accused have been arrested as six accused were arrested today including the key conspirator Barjinder Singh Parwana, the head of Sikh group Damdami Taksal unit of Rajpura in the Patiala clash in which for people were injured including two policemen.
Inspector-General of Police (Patiala Range), Mukhwinder Singh Chinna, today said a total of twenty teams have been constituted to arrest the accused. "Parwana is a self-styled Sikh leader, who makes expletive speeches on social media to garner support. He was the key conspirator from the Sikh radicals' side in the violence and clash at Patiala. He has been arrested by the police team from Mohali today morning."
He added that along with Barjinder, three other Sikh radicals have also been arrested and they will be questioned once they are sent to police custody. "So far, nine people have been arrested in connection to the case. Since last night and today six people were arrested besides Parwana, three other Sikh radicals Davinder Singh, Rajinder Singh and Shiv Dev were arrested. Also, Shankar Bharadwaj who was the associate of the other main conspirator Harish Singla of Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) and Gagi Pandit posted hate speech on social media also been arrested. While yesterday the police arrested three accused," said Chinna.
He asserted that none of the accused in the matter will be spared and the ones with whatever connection with the incident will be arrested.
"The district administration has denied permission to Harish Singla to take out a protest march. 'Khalistan Murdabad March' against Khalistani groups, he defied the orders of the administration and tried to take out march thus inciting Sikh radical who came out to stop it," said Chinna.
Parwana has been accused of inciting militancy on social media in the past. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Patiala team arrested him from the Mohali airport as he was likely to fly to Mumbai. Parwana allegedly led a mob of sikh protestors from near Khanda Chowk to outside Kali Mata temple and the police barricades were uprooted at more than two places to make way for the agitators, said sources.
Police sources said that as of now three hindu radicals Harish Singla, Shankar Bharatwaj and Jagi Pandit and six sikh radicals Barjinder Singh Parwana, Davinder Singh, Rajinder Singh, Shiv Dev, Kuldeep Singh and Daljeet Singh have been arrested by the police is different cases as they incited the violence.