Haryana cops to bring arrested arms suppliers to Adilabad

HYDERABAD: Four men who were arrested by the Haryana police earlier this month while travelling to Telangana to allegedly deliver arms and ammunition or unidentified persons are likely to be brought to Adilabad to confirm that the smuggled weapons were supposed to be supplied to Nanded in Maharashtra.

The four men were apprehended by the Karnal police in Haryana on May 4, and arms, IEDs and ammunition were recovered from them.  

The Karnal police, who registered cases and questioned the accused in connection with the arms transportation to Adilabad, reportedly obtained some leads in the case. During investigation, it was learnt that Pakistan-based Harjinder Singh Rinda was indulged in arms supply from Ferozepur district to different places in Maharashtra via Telangana districts to avoid police vigil.

The Haryana police, along with the Telangana police, are trying to bring the four accused Gurpreet, Amandeep, Parminder, and Bhupinder to Adilabad in establishing the route map of arms supply from Pakistan to India. Sources said Adilabad might not have been a spot to store weapons and ammunition.

"The accused have chosen Adilabad as the safest place to send the arms and ammunition to Nanded in Maharashtra. Interestingly, the four arrested accused were only assigned a task by Rinda to deliver to a receiver in Adilabad but did not disclose details of the receiver. With the arrest of four persons, the receiver escaped and his identity is still a mystery," sources said.

In a preliminary probe, it was revealed that Rinda's family migrated to Nanded a few years ago and he indulged in criminal activities there. When Rinda was student leader, he involved in murder, extortion and Arms Act cases. Later, Rinda went to Pakistan using a fake passport and started operating gangs to transport weapons and ammunition to India illegally.

The police officials said one of the arrested Gurpreet Singh had a criminal past and he was jailed previously. One Rajbir Singh, who is a close associate of Rinda, met Gurpreet Singh in jail where they developed friendship and started illegal activities after being released from jail.

The senior officials said they would, with the assistance of the Telangana police, establish the motive behind the case of transporting arms to Adilabad. A Central law enforcement agency is also monitoring the case and its officials’ tipoff helped the Haryana police in arresting the four accused and seizing weapons and ammunition from their possession.