CHANDIGARH; Mr. Atinderpal Singh, the head of the International Sikh Youth Federation (CISYF) and chief of the Khalistan Liberation Organization (KLO) and Paramjit Singh, the KLO secretary who carried rewards of Rs one lakh each on their heads, were arrested in Patiala district on Tuesday night, the Director General of Punjab Police, Mr. K P’S Gill said at a press conference here on Wednesday.
During the press conference, a video cassette showing the preliminary interrogation of Atinderpal Singh by senior officers was played. Atinderpal allegedly admitted having masterminded the bomb explosions and visiting Pakistan twice during which he received training in explosives and managed to supply of weapons.
He said a tipoff special ‘nakas’ were organized in Patiala district on Tuesday night. At one of the nakas on the BanurKhaar road, two persons coming on a scooter were signaled to stop by a police party. As they tried to escape, they were chased and overpowered by the police party.
About 10 detonators, one maser, 13 gelatin sticks, 11 c of “Wangar’ in Punjabi were seized from them, he said.
Mr. Gill said Atinderpal Singh (31), a graduate from Bhopal, was made the acting president of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) after the death of Bhai Amrik Singh. AISSF president in ‘Operation Bluestar’ in the Golden Temple complex in 1984. Later on, he allegedly fled to Pakistan and remained in touch with Pakistan intelligence agencies. While in Pakistan he fell out with Gurjit Singh of the AISSF and later on formed the ‘Khalistan Liberation Organization’ after merging Saffron Tigers Force, Rangretta Force and Khalistan Force.
Mr. Gill said Atinderpal Singh had masterminded bomb explosions in district courts on the same day on February 19, 1988, at Amritsar Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Patiala in which 12 people were killed and 63 injured.
In the district courts at Jalandhar the bomb was detected before it could explode.
Atinderpal Singh had also allegedly masterminded bomb explosions at the Shohdara bus terminus in Delhi on September 12 in which one person was killed and 20 were injured and on the Ghaziabad Delhi border on September 21 in which one person was killed.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 14, 1988
