In a sensational jailbreak, the Chief of Khalistan Liberation Front, Harminder Mintoo, had escaped from the high-security Nabha prison near Patiala along with five other prisoners,after armed men in Police uniform stormed the jail. Later, in a major break through he was arrested by the joint operation of the Delhi, Uttarpradesh and Punjab Police. The Uttarpradesh director general of Police, Javeed Ahmed said that the arrest was made following an alert from intelligence agencies.The Khalistani militant Mintoo was arrested one month before, after he was deported from Thailand and kept in the high security jail.
The Centre has sought an immediate report on the incident. The initial interrogation has revealed that all the accused had escaped in separate SUVs, after the jailbreak and had planned to meet in Delhi after the dust had settled. The Punjab DGP Suresh Arora said that unidentified assailants had come to the jail premises and fired indiscriminately and fled with six prisoners. The firing was also done from inside the jail. He said that firing from their part was not effective and had there been effective firing, it would have been the other way round. The Punjab government sacked two senior prison officials and formed a special investigation team to probe the jail break incident.
Meanwhile, it is reported that a woman who was in an SHO's vehicle died after being hit by a bullet when the police opened fire at her vehicle after it jumped a barrier about 20 km away from the prison.The others who fled were gangster Vicky Gaunder and Kashmira singh. The police told the news agencies that the militants after the escape were proceeding towards Haryana. The Punjab government has announced a reward of Rs. 25 lakh for any person who provides information about the escape of the prisoners and for the help to arrest the remaining under- trial prisoners.
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