The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested Deepak Ranga, the main shooter in the attack on Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali in May 2022. Ranga was nabbed from Gorakhpur early on Wednesday. He has been absconding since May.
Ranga of Surakpur village in Jhajjar district of Haryana, 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, the NIA said in a statement.
“Apart from his involvement in the May RPG attack, Deepak has been involved in a number of other violent terrorist and criminal offences, including violent killings. He has been actively receiving terror funds and logistical support from Rinda and Landa,” it said.
The NIA had registered the case suo moto on September 20, 2022 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, it said.
It had 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, 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 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Canada-based Arsh Dalla has been designated as an ‘individual terrorist’ by the Union Home Ministry January 9, 2023. Further action to dismantle the terror-gangster-smuggler nexus and infrastructure would be intensified in the near future, it added.