Bhinderwale associate nabbed by Delhi police

CHANDIGARH: The Delhi Police arrested an associate of Sikh miiltant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed by the Army in Operation Bluestar in 1984, officials said on Wednesday. Gursewak Singh (53), who is a member of the banned terrorist group Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), was trying to to re-constitute the militant organisation on the directions of Pakistan-based Paramjeet Singh Panjwad.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Ajit Kumar Singla said Gursewak was arrested by the crime branch on March 12 from ISBT, Delhi, where he had come to meet one of his contacts. He said Gursewak was also in touch with Jagtar Singh Hawara and other terrorists lodged in various jails across the country, including Delhi’s Tihar jail.

The Delhi crime branch said Gursewak was involved in over 50 cases, including od terror activities, murders of police officials and informers, bank robberies and vandalising police stations in Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan. A senior Punjab Police officer said, “Gursewak was active in Punjab during the 1980s and 90s. We are ascertaining the pending cases in which the Punjab Police requires his interrogation.”

According to the Delhi crime branch, Gursewak remained in jail for over 26 years in various cases and was always in touch with some terror groups operating from Pakistan soil. He was born in a farmer’s family of Raikot village in Ludhiana district . His elder brother Swaran Singh was a member of terrorist group led by Bhindranwale, which Gursewak joined in 1982. After Bindranwale was killed in 1984, most of his associates fled to Pakistan, where they were trained and supported by the ISI. Gursewak joined the newly constituted KCF by terrorist Manveer Singh Chehdu and participated in anti-national activities.

According to police records, in May 1984, Gursewak and his associates — Labh Singh , Gurinder Singh and Swaranjit Singh — had killed the group editor of a vernacular daily, Ramesh Chander, in Jalandhar . Two years later, they had attacked the residence of former DGP of Punjab, Julio Riberio, in Jalandhar.

Gursewak killed eight cops and in the same year, after a shootout in Jalandar court complex, he had freed KCF head Jarnail Labh Singh and terrorists Gurinder Pal Singh Bhola and Swaranjit Singh from police custody. Later, Gursewak and his aides had killed nine members of a family in Punjab. He spent most of his jail term in high risk ward of Tihar Jail till 2004. Delhi crime branch records reveal that while in Tihar, Gursewak planned smuggling of arms, including AK-47, and explosives from Pakistan to carry out an attack in Delhi.

After his release from jail in 2010, he was involved in several cases of robbery and arrested three times by Ludhiana cops in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, said Singla. Delhi cops arrested Gursewak again in 2017 under the Arms Act. He is facing trial in a case in Patiala House court and skipping court hearings, following which non-bailable warrants were issued against him.