Pilibhit encounter: Terror suspects hailed from poor families

Police personnel and others stand near the body of one of the three terror suspects who, allegedly involved in the grenade attack in Gurdaspur, were killed in an encounter with a joint team of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab police, at a hospital, in Pilibhit.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The three suspected Khalistani terrorists killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit hailed from poor families, with their kin finding it hard to believe they could be involved in anti-national activities.

Accused of being involved in the grenade attack at a police post in Gurdaspur recently, the three were killed in an encounter with police in Pilibhit on Monday (December 23).

The three suspected members of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) were identified as Varinder Singh alias Ravi (23) of Agwan in Kalanaur, Gurwinder Singh (25) of Bhaini Bania Mohalla in Kalanaur and Jashanpreet Singh alias Partap Singh (18) of Shur Khurd in Kalanaur.

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The families of two of the suspects claimed they have no clue how they landed in Uttar Pradesh.

Gurwinder’s family said he left home last week for Batala in Punjab. His phone was later found switched off, his family told reporters at their home.

“We cannot believe he could even think of doing such a thing,” his father Gurdev Singh, a labourer, told reporters.

He said his son had been facing a police case after a youth had drowned in a canal. However, he claimed his son had been implicated in that case.

Gurwinder’s mother Sarabjit Kaur said while leaving home for Batala to drop a relative he had said he will be back soon. “He was our only son… We dont know how he reached UP. Now, we have lost everything,” she said.

Jashanpreet Singh also belonged to a poor family. His mother Paramjit Kaur claimed that he had never done anything illegal all his life. “We do not know what happened and how he reached there (UP),” she said.

She said her son left home a week ago and told us he wanted to drive a commercial vehicle and support his family. Varinder’s house in Agwan, was found locked. Some locals claimed he worked as a truck driver.

In a major breakthrough against Pakistan ISI-sponsored KZF terror module, a joint operation of Punjab Police and Uttar Pradesh Police led to the encounter with three module members involved in the grenade attack.

According to a Punjab police statement, preliminary investigation revealed that this terror module is controlled by Pak-based Ranjeet Singh Nita, the chief of KZF, and operated by Greece-based Jaswinder Singh Mannu, a native of village Agwan village in Kalanaur.

Accused Varinder alias Ravi, who was leading the module, was being further controlled and masterminded by U.K.-based Jagjeet Singh and was using the assumed identity of Fateh Singh Baghi to also claim responsibility for the grenade attack, the statement said.