KLF chief Mintoo trimmed beard, wanted to escape via Goa

 Chandigarh: Khalistan Liberation Front Chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, who had escaped from Nabha jail in Punjab along with five other inmates on Sunday, was nabbed from Nizammudin Railway station late on Sunday.

Arvind Deep, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) said that Mintoo had been arrested near Nizammudin parking lot late on Sunday.

"Punjab Police had suspicion about his movement towards Delhi and they contacted Delhi Police. Following intensive checking and tracking, he was arrested from the railway station last night," said the officer.

“Harminder Mintoo had trimmed his beard, it was difficult to identity him. His plan was to escape from Goa via Mumbai,” Deep said addressing the media.

“Interrogation of Harminder Mintoo is underway. We're conducting further probe based on leads given by him,” he added.

Revealing that a pistol and 6 cartridges had been recovered from Mintoo, Deep added that he was also carrying some cash.

“It was a pre-planned thing. Mintoo was part of the module of escapees,” Deep said.

The Special CP added that investigations were still in preliminary stage in the matter.  

A team of Punjab police will take him back to the state.

It is the second arrest in the case. UP police last evening arrested the alleged "mastermind" of the daring daylight jailbreak, Parminder Singh.

He was arrested from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district when the getaway vehicle--a Toyota Fortuner—was stopped at a police picket.

Mintoo yesterday escaped along with five other prisoners in a sensational jailbreak after armed men in police uniform tricked the sentries into opening the gates of the jail in

Patiala, nearly 200 km from here, and bolted out with the inmates while firing a hail of bullets.

Officials said efforts are on to nab the other prisoners who managed to flee.

Mintoo was arrested by Punjab Police after he was deported from Thailand in November 2014. He was wanted in ten terror cases.

The KLF chief was brought to India along with his key aide Gurpeet Singh 'Gopi' after Punjab Police, in coordination with central agencies, traced them in Thailand, a senior police official said.

Among the escapees was another terrorist Kashmir Singh, according to Punjab police chief Suresh Arora.