Meerut: With the arrest of three persons associated with a pro-Khalistan radical outfit from Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh Police claims to have busted a terror module planning to target former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and his family members.

Additional general of police (Meerut) Prashant Kumar said, “The arrested accused have confessed to plotting to kill Punjab leaders, including former CM Prakash Singh Badal, who were against the Khalistan movement. Their plan was to disrupt public rallies of these leaders in Punjab and attack them.”

Notably, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had held a rally in Patiala on October 7, which was said to be their biggest public rally in the past many months and was attended by senior leaders, including Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal.

On Sunday night, Shamli police arrested three assailants – Karam Singh, Gurujant alias Jenta and Amreet alias Amrit – for attacking a constable and a home guard in Shamli’ Jhinjhana on October 2 and looting their arms – an INSAS and a .303 rifle.

State police is yet to zero in on main accused, Jerman who, according to the police, is the leader of pro-Khalistan radical outfit and is receiving support from the overseas to launch an attack on Badals and other leaders said to be against the Khalistan movement. According to the cops, Jerman has stored a cache of arms in a village in Punjab’s Ropar for the cause.

“The three arrested accused, who hid the looted arms in a local gurdwara, were planning to shift the weapons to Punjab where Jerman has already hid a cache of weapons,” Shamli SP Dinesh Kumar P said.

Police also claimed that Jerman is mobilising support for Khalistan movement on the social media. “Ki tussi khalistan de haq wich ho? Je ho taan photo share karo (Are you in favour of Khalistan? If yes, share this picture)” read a post on Jerman’s Facebook account which has over 5,000 friends.

The three accused were arrested after a brief gun battle on Sunday night. It was during the interrogation that the trio confessed to aiding Jerman, who was planning to carry out a series of attacks on political leaders.

“Apart from Jerman, name of another of aide, Karma, a resident of Shamli, has also come up. We are trying to trace their whereabouts,” Shamli SP said.

Notably, soon after the Nabha jailbreak in 2016, west UP had come under the radar of Punjab police and was dubbed a safe haven for suspects linked to the banned outfit Babbar Khalsa International. Hours after the jailbreak, main conspirator Parvinder Singh was arrested from Shamli. At least 10 armed men had broken into the premises of the high-security Nabha jail and freed six men, including Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Harminder Mintoo, on November 27.

Later in September 2017, Punjab police and UP anti-terrorist squad arrested six suspects who had non-bailable warrants issued against them for their role in the jailbreak from various UP districts.