2 held for pasting posters with secessionist message

Patiala, July 19

Days after unidentified persons pasted pro-Khalistani posters on the boundary wall of Kali Mata Temple here, the police today arrested two youths, who were allegedly “in touch with foreign handlers”, for the crime.

The accused — identified as Harwinder Singh, alias Prince (21), and Prem Singh, alias Ekam (18) — were arrested from Rajpura. Both are natives of the district’s Salempur Sekhan village.

The posters pasted on the temple’s wall carried a message from the banned outfit, Sikhs for Justice, related to the ‘Khalistan referendum’ on the intervening night of July 14 and 15, the police have said.

Received money from abroad

One of the accused, Harwinder Singh, came in contact with ‘anti-national’ elements in Malaysia

He received money from foreign handlers and told to collect posters from a pre-determined location

The posters pasted carried a message from the banned outfit, Sikhs for Justice, related to the ‘Khalistan referendum’

The accused had allegedly pasted posters near the Army Cantonment in Haryana as well, and were planning to repeat the act in Himachal and Chandigarh.

Patiala zone Inspector General (IG) Mukhwinder Singh Chhina and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Deepak Pareek said the accused had been booked under Section 153 (A) of the IPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1985, at the Kotwali police station.

Shaminder Singh, CIA in-charge, Patiala, said Harwinder came in contact with “anti-national” elements in Malaysia, where he worked for more than two years.

“Harwinder remained in touch with them on returning to India. Recently, foreign handlers sent him money and told him to collect the posters from a pre-determined location,” he said.

In return, the police claimed, the accused were assured of a residency in a foreign country.

The SSP said the accused pasted the posters at four places — the Cantonment area in Ambala, near Aryan College in Rajpura, the boundary wall of Kali Mata Temple and on a traffic signboard near another temple in Patiala.

“The accused had written pro-Khalistan slogans using a spray paint on an underbridge in Rajpura. The plan was to put up posters at or near the sites of the Independence Day programmes. They had also planned to paste posters at the DC’s office in Mohali and government buildings in Chandigarh, Kasauli and Solan,” added the SSP.