Terror suspect wanted in Punjab grenade attack case arrested from Haryana's Faridabad

In a joint operation of Haryana and Punjab police, a 29-year-old terror attack suspect wanted in a grenade blast case in Punjab's Fazilka was arrested from a hideout in Faridabad, police officials said on Tuesday. Following the tip-off, a joint team of the Haryana police special task force, Faridabad district police, and Punjab police was formed, which arrested him on Wednesday morning and took him to Fazilka.

(Hindustan Times/Representational image)The suspect was identified as Kulwant Singh alias Kulwant Ali, a resident of a resident of Alike village in Punjab's Fazilka district. Police said Singh was wanted in connection with the grenade attack at Jalalabad City police station in Fazilka that took place on September 13.

The suspect had reached Faridabad on the night of October 26 and was hiding at his aunt's place in Panchayati Jhuggi village, under the Chhainsa police station area. Police officials said that Punjab police had received a tip-off about his presence in Faridabad.

Following the tip-off, a joint team of the Haryana police special task force, Faridabad district police, and Punjab police was formed, which arrested him on Wednesday morning and took him to Fazilka. Police officials said that Singh was linked to operatives in Pakistan and was acting on their directions.

He was also linked to Pakistan-based gangster and terror operative Shehzad Bhatti gang, they said. A senior police officer said Singh was also suspected of having links to a case involving the recovery of a consignment of eight kilograms of RDX, foreign-manufactured pistols, and ammunition in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district, which was dropped by a drone from Pakistan.

"He was being interrogated by Punjab police in the grenade attack case. Singh was suspected to be the mastermind of the case, on whose directions two suspects had hurled the grenade outside the police station in Fazila on September 13.

The duo was arrested on the very next day and had disclosed that they were acting on Singh's direction," the officer said. Yashpal Yadav, public relations officer of the Faridabad police, confirmed Singh's arrest from his aunt's house on Wednesday morning during a joint operation.

"Further investigation in the case was being carried out by the Punjab police," he added. Debashish Karmakar is a principal correspondent with the Hindustan Times, Gurugram bureau. He has a vast journalistic experience of almost 14 years of covering crime, court, power, transport, administration, weather and other beats while working across various organisations.

He has been covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal and other districts of southern Haryana for more than four and a half years. He has produced several breaking and exclusive stories while reporting from the ground where he maintains a strong presence on a daily basis.

He writes news articles which are hard-hitting and accurate. With his strong bureaucratic sources, he frequently writes stories to expose the failure of the system forcing authorities to take necessary course-corrective steps.

Besides crime, important convictions and court orders, he also writes on human-angle stories, on power issues and challenges faced by the residents on a daily basis in Gurugram and neighbouring areas. In the past, he worked for media houses like The Times of India, where he extensively reported on important government matters and daily proceedings at the Patna High Court.

He has also worked in the electronic media and had done ground coverage on the Kedarnath deluge that wrecked Uttarakhand in 2013.Read More