Khalistan Liberation Front alleged chief being grilled by cops

Mumbai: Khalistan Liberation Front’s alleged chief, Harminder Singh Mintoo (49) — who escaped on Sunday from Nabha jail in Punjab along with five other inmates but was arrested the same night in Delhi — is being grilled for clues on identities of his associates and contacts in Mumbai and Panvel, Raigad district, by Delhi police’s counter-terror wing special cell.

After his arrest, Mintoo disclosed that he was about to undertake a train journey to Panvel, then Mumbai, and finally Goa, from where he was to escape from the country.

Arvind Deep, special commissioner of police (special cell), Delhi police, on Monday told The Asian Age, “Special cell’s main focus in its interrogation of Mintoo currently is to find out identities of his suspected associates, contacts and facilitators in Mumbai, Panvel, Goa and even abroad. We suspect he eventually wanted to flee the country via Goa to go abroad and hatch conspiracies to revive the defunct Khalistan separatist movement.”

Mintoo is suspected of having a network of aides, especially in Goa. He was nabbed from a parking lot near Delhi’s Nizamuddin Railway Station late on Sunday by a special cell team. He had trimmed his beard and it was difficult for special cell sleuths to identity him, sources said.

Senior IPS officer Deep said, “Once the special cell gets details from Mintoo on his associates and contacts who might be based in Mumbai and Panvel, it will seek the cooperation of Maharashtra police in taking acting against them.”