City shopkeeper also held for selling kamanidar knives
The Amritsar police have arrested three persons in connection with a case registered against two Australian nationals and one Ropar resident accused of hatching a plot to kidnap a Chandigarh youth. The three are Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi, a resident of Guru Nanakwara, Surjit Singh alias Raju, a resident of Nimela Avenue, Chheharta, and Manjit Singh alias Changiara, a resident of Kot Mahna Singh, Amritsar.
Commissioner of Police Varinder Kumar said they picked up the three on Saturday following a tip-off. He said the arrests followed that of three men ? Simon Ginty, Grant Alan Easton, residents of Brisbane in Australia and Indian national Gursher Singh? by the UT Police on Friday for planning to kidnap one Harsh Sinha of Chandigarh.
?A case was registered against them in Chandigarh. We have arrested the three persons in connection with the same case and the arrested persons would be handed over to the Chandigarh Police for further investigations,? said Kumar, adding that the three had confessed to their involvement in the crime.
During questioning, those arrested in Chandigarh had disclosed that they planned to kidnap Harsh Sinha for a ransom of Rs 1 crore and that they had hired the kidnappers from Amritsar. ?The city police were informed about the matter and the three accused were arrested. During preliminary questioning, the accused told us that they were hired by the accused arrested in Chandigarh for Rs 10 lakh to kidnap Harsh,? said the commissioner.
The UT police, meanwhile, arrested a Chandigarh-based trader for selling the illegal Kamanidar knives to the Australian nationals. The accused shopkeeper, Gurdev, who owns a shop of artificial items in Sector-17 Plaza, was booked after the Australian nationals identified him. The knives were reportedly bought for Rs 200.
Satbir Singh, DSP Crime Branch said: ?Both the Australian nationals had purchased the knife from Sector-17 shop. The sale of the Kamanidar knife is an offence under the Arms Act and therefore, the shopkeeper was arrested.