New Delhi: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested Deepak Ranga, the main shooter in the Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack, the investigation agency said.
An RPG attack was carried out at Punjab Police Intelligence headquarters in Mohali on May 9, 2022, at about 7.45 pm.
The accused, who was absconding since the RPG attack, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur. He belongs to Surakpur village in Haryana’s Jhajjar.
According to NIA, Deepak Ranga is a close associate of Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa and Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda.
Apart from his involvement in the Rocket-Propelled Grenade attack, Deepal Ranga has also been involved in a number of other violent terrorist and criminal offences, including violent killings, said the anti-terror agency.
He has been actively receiving terror funds and logistical support from Rinda and Landa.
The agency had registered the case suo moto on September 20 last year after it "emerged that terrorist outfits and terror elements based abroad were operating in tandem with leaders and members of organized criminal gangs operating in northern States of the country to commit targeted killings and violent criminal acts."
According to NIA, it also emerged that the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network was also engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware, such as arms, ammunition explosives, and IEDs across borders through a widespread inter-state network of gun runners, illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers, and explosive traffickers.
“Since the registration of three criminal cases against the above terror-gangster-drug smuggler network, the NIA has already arrested 19 leaders/members of various organised criminal gangs, two arms suppliers and one big financier connected with the network, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” it said.
Canada-based Arsh Dalla has been designated as an "individual terrorist" by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 9, the spokesperson said, adding further action to dismantle the terror-gangster-smuggler nexus and infrastructure would be intensified in the near future.