Key operative of Arsh Dalla terror nexus held after two-year hunt

New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested Harjeet Singh, the last prominent on-ground operative of the Arsh Dalla-Sukha Duneke terror-gangster alliance, who was wanted by the law enforcement agencies, including the NIA, for multiple murders in Punjab and Haryana, the police said on Saturday.

An official said that Harjeet Singh (27), a resident of Bathinda district in Punjab, had been evading arrest for the past two years.

The official said that Harjeet Singh, along with his close associate who was arrested by the Special Cell on September 7, had been the most trusted operatives of foreign-based gangster-turned-terrorists Sukha Duneke, Arsh Dalla, Lakhbir Singh (also known as Landa), and Harvinder Singh (also known as Rinda).

"Collectively, these four foreign-based gangsters constitute a terror-gangster syndicate engaged in anti-national activities within the country, in collaboration with Pakistan's ISI," the official said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), Pratiksha Godara, said that Harjeet and Harry Rajpura had been on the run for the past two years, engaging in a series of criminal activities spanning various states. 

“They posed a significant challenge to the internal security of the country while working at the behest of terrorists based abroad. They were involved in target killings, extortions, firing for financial gain, and cross-border smuggling of illegal firearms and drugs. The team had been continuously receiving information regarding their anti-national activities. Hence, a comprehensive operation was launched to dismantle this criminal syndicate,” the DCP said.

During the intelligence gathering process, it was found that Neeraj Faridpuria, a fugitive gangster from Haryana who is believed to be in Portugal, had established connections with Canada-based Arsh Dalla. 

“They had arranged safe havens for their associates and sought to expand their criminal network within Delhi-NCR. To address this threat, technical surveillance efforts were focused on the southeastern region of Haryana, and informants were activated to gather crucial information,” the DCP said.

In the initial leads, one highly-suspicious individual, later identified as Munesh Lamba, a resident of Ballabgarh, Haryana, and a college friend of Neeraj Faridpuria, was arrested by the team on September 6. 

“Munesh Lamba made some shocking revelations, revealing that the top operative of the alliance had been provided shelter by Neeraj Faridpuria near Faridabad on the directions of Arsh Dalla,” Godara said.

“Acting on this lead, the team arrested Rajvinder Singh, also known as Bada Harry, from Hodal, Faridabad, the very next day (September 7). He was wanted in three cases by the NIA and Punjab Police,” the DCP said.

He was subsequently interrogated to obtain further information about the other gang members, and he disclosed that Harjeet was also hiding somewhere nearby in Faridabad.

“Based on these findings, the team focused on technical indicators suggesting activity within a specific region. After conducting an analysis of the metadata, the team detected highly-suspicious activities,” the DCP said. 

“The technical team then initiated an in-depth data mining and digital trace collection operation. Simultaneously, intelligence sources were activated to support this endeavor. Recognising that technical leads can often be ambiguous, the team covertly validated these indicators. After several days, the team successfully pinpointed a suspicious individual,” the officer said.

However, this suspect employed cunning tactics that made continuous surveillance impractical. Nevertheless, the team persisted in their efforts, and finally on Friday, they received a tip-off indicating that Harjeet would come near the Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar in late evening hours to meet someone.

“Subsequently, a trap was laid according to the tip-off, and after a brief operation, the team successfully apprehended him. One sophisticated semi-automatic pistol loaded with four cartridges was recovered from his possession,” the DCP said.