Two aides of Nabha mastermind arrested in Dehradun, police say they helped plan jailbreak
Two other accomplices of Palwinder Singh Pinda managed to escape, officers said.
Two aides of the man who planned the attack on the Nabha Central Jail in Punjab were arrested by police in Dehradun on Tuesday, PTI reported. Geeta Arora and Aditya Mehra, who along with Palwinder Singh Pinda planned the attack on the jail in Patiala and helped five prisoners escape, were arrested from their hideout in the city. Police suspect their location may have been used to plan the assault.
However, two of Pinda’s other accomplices, including Geeta’s husband Sunil, managed to escape, police officers said. Senior Superintendent of Police Sadanand Date said several fake vehicle number plates, voter identification cards, mobile SIM cards and over Rs 2 lakh in cash were found at the hideout. Bullets and bomb-making materials were also seized, Date said.
Khalistan Liberation Force chief Harminder Singh Mintoo was among those who broke out of the jail on Sunday after it was attacked by 10 armed men. The assailants, who were clad in police uniforms, fired more than 100 rounds at the guards. Mintoo was arrested by a joint force of the Punjab and Delhi police on Sunday. Hours later, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Pinda, one of the assailants who had had broken into the jail.