Punjab Police nabs 2 accomplices of slain Hizbul Commander Naikoo’s associate Hilal

CHANDIGARH: In a major expose, the Punjab Police has traced inter-state links of slain Hizbual Mujhahideen commander, Riaz Ahmed Naikoo, with the arrest of two accomplices of his close associate, Hilal Ahmed Wagay, from Amritsar on Wednesday.

Given the gravity of the offenses and the cross-border ramifications of the case beyond Punjab, the Centre has directed NIA to take over further investigations into the case to unravel the entire conspiracy, which has footprints leading across the border via J&K.

It may be recalled that Naikoo, commander of banned terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), was gunned down by security forces in South Kashmir yesterday. Wagay was arrested earlier on April 25 by Punjab Police, who had subsequently shared details of his disclosures with the Centre as well as the Jammu & Kashmir government.

Giving details of yesterday’s arrests, DGP Dinkar Gupta said the duo were traced through investigations into the trail of Hizbul terrorist Hilal Ahmed Wagay, who was nabbed from Amritsar, where he had come to collect money from Amritsar on the instructions of Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, Hizbul Commander in Kashmir Valley.

The arrested duo have been identified as Bikram Singh@Vicky s/o Sakattar Singh r/o House no. 39-C, Guru Amardas Avenue, Amritsar, and Maninder Singh @ Mani s/o Sakattar Singh r/o House no. 39-C, Guru Amardas Avenue, Amritsar.

Police seized 1 kg heroin along with Rs. 32 lakhs in Indian currency from their possession, to unveil Pakistan-sponsored conspiracy to smuggle narcotics and weapons into the state, said DGP Dinkar Gupta. While Rs 20 lakh cash was recovered from them at the time of their arrest, the remaining were seized from their homes later, following the grant of police remand by the court.

The DGP said Bikram Singh @ Vicky had come on a scooter to deliver Rs. 29 lakh cash to Hilal Ahmed on the instructions of Ranjit Singh @ Cheetah, Iqbal Singh @ Shera, and Sarwan Singh.

Hilal was nabbed by an alert team of Amritsar Commissionerate Police, which was on patrol duty on a motorbike late evening on April 25, near Metro Mart in Amritsar city. An FIR No. 135 dated 25/04/2020 u/s 10/11/13/17/18/20/21 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 and 21/61/85 of the NDPS Act was registered at Police Station Sadar, Amritsar.

The interrogation of the two accused further revealed that both Bikram and Maninder, along with their cousins (Aunt's sons) Ranjit Singh @ Cheetah, Iqbal Singh @ Shera and Sarwan Singh, deal in drugs and weapons smuggled from across-the-border.

The DGP said the police teams were on the trail of Ranjit Singh @ Cheetah r/o Hawelian Naushehra Dhala, PS Sarai Amanant Khaan, District Tarn Taran; Iqbal Singh @ Shera r/o Hawelian Naushehra Dhala, PS Sarai Amanat Khaan, District Tarn Taran, Sarwan Singh s/o Harbajan Singh r/o VPO Havelian, whose involvement had come up during the investigations.