The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested absconding terrorist Harpreet Singh from Delhi airport when he arrived from Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia in connection with the December 2021 Ludhiana Court complex blast, reported ANI. 


Harpreet is an associate of Lakhbir Singh Rode, a Pakistan based, self-styled Chief of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). Harpreet is one of the conspirators, along with Lakhbir, on the December 2021 Ludhiana Court Building blast, informed NIA. 


The Ludhiana Court blast had left one dead and six injured. 






Harpreet took instructions from Rode and coordinated the delivery of the custom-made IED which had been sent from Pakistan to his India-based associates. These IEDs were later used in the Ludhiana Court Complex blast. 


NIA had declared a reward of Rs 10 lakh on Harpreet Singh against whom a non-bailable warrant from the Special NIA court had been issued and a Look Out Circular was opened, ANI quoted NIA as saying. 






ALSO READ: Ludhiana Court Bomber Had Links With Pak-Based Pro-Khalistan Elements: Punjab Police


Earlier in May this year, Punjab Special Task Force (STF) arrested Dilbagh Singh, accused of supplying improvised explosive device (IED) for the Ludhiana court blast. STF caught Dilbagh along with three more accomplices in Amritsar. The three accused persons allegedly provided to Gagandeep, the sacked constable who carried out the court blast. 


According to the STF, three IEDs were sent from Pakistan to Punjab through drones, out of which, one was used for the Ludhiana blast. 


The case was initially registered on December 23 last year by Punjab Police the day when the bomb blast took place on the court premises. The NIA took over the investigation on January 13 this year. 


 During the investigation, the NIA said it identified the person who died in the blast as Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Khanna. The blast was so powerful that one of the walls in the complex got damaged and the windows of some vehicles parked on the premises were shattered. The district court was functioning when the explosion took place. 


This was the second major blast in Ludhiana after the Shingar Cinema blast that claimed the lives of six persons in 2007. 


  


(With Agency Inputs)