Chandigarh/Amritsar: The three youngsters arrested for trying to carry out an IED blast in Chandigarh took up the terror plot for just Rs15,000-20,000, say police — a disturbing indicator of just how cheap and easy it is for subversive elements to get a gunman or bomber for hire in Punjab.Police said all three — Amritsar’s Prabhpreet Singh, 19, and Lovepreet Singh, 19 and Jashanpreet Singh, 21, of Tarn Taran — come from poor family backgrounds and were working as daily wagers in Punjab. They are related to each other and it appears none of them had a criminal record.The ease and the price at which these greenhorns nearly turned into terror operatives fits a shocking pattern. Two shooters arrested for the sensational day-time shooting of an employee at a chemist shop in Chandigarh’s Sector 11 in June had agreed to be killers for hire after being given only clothes and shoes worth around Rs 25,000, say police. It was their first crime and they pumped 13 bullets into the victim in 2 seconds.The two suspects arrested in connection with the April 1 grenade blast outside the BJP office in Sector 37 were promised Rs 2 lakh but hurled the bomb after being paid only Rs 19,000 in two instalments and Rs 18,665 in as many as nine instalments, say police. They were hired by Pakistan-based handlers Baljot Singh alias Jot, operating from Portugal, and Harjeet Singh Laadi, based in Germany.Like these suspects, the IED trio was also low-profile and had gone below the radar until they had entered Chandigarh.Prabhpreet had been staying with his maternal grandmother, Baljit Kaur, in Amritsar for around five months. She told police that he left home around noon on Aug 22, saying he was going to get medicines for the father of a mason with whom he worked. He left on the mason’s motorcycle and said he would return soon.When he did not return till late evening, his grandmother called him, but his phone was switched off. The family learnt through relatives the next day that he had been arrested.Lovepreet and Jashanpreet reportedly told their families that they were going to a temple before leaving home.According to police, they received an input on Aug 22 that two men, who were in contact with some terror operatives abroad, were moving around the Sector 42-43 area in Chandigarh. Police suspected they were carrying explosives and planning to plant an IED, either at a crowded location or near prominent govt buildings, say sources.Following intelligence inputs and technical surveillance, the Operation Cell moved in and caught them behind the Sector 43 bus stand on the night of Aug 23. Around 6kg of gelatin sticks, detonators, wires, a power source, a remote-operated device, a pistol and ammo were seized from them. The suspected IED was not activated, police said.They were remanded in police custody on Monday and have told interrogators that they were promised cash payment to carry out a blast.“I never thought he could do something like this,” said Prabhpreet’s grandmother, struggling to understand how he got involved in such a grave crime. “After he left, I didn’t even make roti the next day. I kept waiting for him,” she said, unable to hold back tears.Investigators are probing their links with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terror network. Police are also trying to establish who assigned the task to the trio and what were the intended targets.
