BOMBAY: Whenever a “politically” motivated crime is committed especially in Bombay or New Delhi the Indian Press uses the names of two boys awaiting caution as affiliates of the act or accused culprits.

Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda and Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha patiently await execution for their part in the death of Gen. Vaidya From their jail cell they have released statements denying any covert or conspiratorial activity with other militants. Still their names are recalled when an arrest is made.

Heroes too many Sikhs they openly admit their part in Vaidyas death yet they have repeatedly stated that they neither take ho credit nor want any part of activities stated to be on their behalf.

The “Express” recently ran a Story about an attempted abduction of P.M. Raos granddaughter which is a case in point.

Four militants who were planning to kidnap Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Raos granddaughter Vishal Rajeshwar Rao a college student from Satara Road Pune were nabbed by the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of the city police (North Zone) near Dahisarcheck naka in north-west Bombay The leader of the quartet Rajbir Singh Sandhu an associate of Harjinder Singh Jinda the main accused in General Vaidyas murder case was also nabbed.

Highly-placed intelligence bureau officials have rushed here to interrogate the detainees A top CBI official from Chandigarh has also left for Bombay.

Giving details about the operation Addl Commissioner of Police (North zone) Aftab Ahmed Khan said the information received was worked out in great detail and then the movements of the militants were checked out.

The ATS members spotted a car (MH-02-B-3239) proceeding from the city toward naka. The car was intercepted with the help of a dumper and a brief scuffle ensued. One of the militants managed to open fire and Sub Inspectors Gopi Chavanand Sunil Deshmukh sustained bullet injuries on their legs. Sub Inspectors Prakash George and Iqbal Shaikh part of the operational team said the entire operation lasted not more than five minutes Rajbir Singh Sandhu despite being overpowered tried to fire before being knocked down they said.

The search of the car led to the seizure of an AK-47 assault rifle a 9 mm Browning pistol a .32 caliber Berretta pistol a country made handgun and 150 rounds of ammunition and cash of Rs 32000 The arrested included Trilok Singh Jay Singh alias Babaji Harbinder Singh Virdi alias Titoo and Deepak Kanshiram Shukla

The accused disclosed that through Rajbir Singhs niece Tejpal Gurdiyal Sekhon a student of Bharati Vidyapith College Pune and another student Sanjay the militants managed to elicit information regarding the whereabouts and movements of Vishal.

Khan said the militants were also planning to kidnap industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani for ransom. Earlier they had abducted two industrialists Vinod Nagpal and D.S.Sohal from Juhu and released them after obtaining the ransom. The militants had also collected large sums of money by selling stolen motor vehicles.

Intelligence reports on Rajbit Singh and Babaji revealed they were affiliated to Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwas group) and as per the confessions they were recently approached by Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) to carry out the kidnapping of Vishal. The KLF members also supplied Rajbir with the firearms and recently the latter went to Pune to chalk out the kidnapping plan.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 26, 1992