On the run for 27 years, ‘terrorist’ cop held

The Crime Branch of the UT Police, on Fiday night, arrested a 70-year-old 'terrorist' and claimed that he was involved in a bomb blast on a Haryana Roadways bus in May 1985 in which two persons were killed.

Santokh Singh Bajwa (70) was arrested under section 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC and 25, 54, 59 of Arms Act. He was produced in court Saturday and has been remanded in police custody till February 16. Police officials claimed that Bajwa, who had also worked for 18 months as an Assistant Sub Inspector with the Punjab Police in 1963, had created a false identity for himself as Balwant Singh and was also carrying a driving license with a fake name when he was arrested. He was also carrying a freelance press card from Faridkot, Punjab.

At the time of his arrest, a .30 bore loaded pistol with live cartridges besides another 19 live cartridges, a 12 bore rifle alongwith two live cartridges were found from the dashboard of the Indica car in which he was traveling. A laptop, a handycam, one DVD along with three cassettes of handycam were also recovered.

Addressing a press conference Saturday, UT SSP Naunihal Singh said they had received a secret tip off that he was going to Kharar and was to pass through Chandigarh between 11 pm to midnight when he was nabbed at the Sector 37-38 crossing by a team led by Inspector Ranjodh Singh.

The accused is a resident of village Adhoi, Kurukshetra district of Haryana and both the Haryana Police and the Punjab Police have been informed about the arrest.

After the blast the accused had managed to flee and was later declared proclaimed offender from the concerned court on September 24, 1985 as three of his accomplices Gurbaksh Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Pritam Singh were arrested by the Haryana police in on May 10, 1985, under section 302, 307, 153, 124-A of IPC and 3,4 of Explosive Act, registered in police station Shahbad Markanda district Kurukshetra, Haryana.

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