A suspected terrorist, associated with militant outfits of Punjab, has been arrested alongwith three of his associates in connection with the sensational robbery at DBG Road area in Central Delhi last week when two Mumbai-based jewellers were robbed of diamond jewellery worth more than Rs 1 crore, police said today.
"The accused, identified as Avtar Singh (47) alias Bittoo has previously been convicted in two TADA cases and one case of murder," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Central) Alok Kumar.
He has been a member of All India Sikh Student Federation and Bhindrawala Tiger Force. He has been convicted in a TADA case of Civil Lines police station in Delhi. He is also convicted in another TADA case in Punjab when one AK-47 with 100 cartridges and 2 pistols of .32 Bore with 50 cartridges were recovered from his possession.
His younger brother namely Paramjeet alias Pamma, Age-42 years was arrested in the year 1997 for the murder of Chief Minister Beant Singh along-with his associate Jagtar Singh Hawara.
Avtar Singh's three associates, Gurjeet Singh (30), Anil Luthra (19) and Amit (24) have also been arrested with him and gold and diamond jewellery to the tune of approximately Rs 35 lakh have been recovered at their instance. Six members of the gang have already been arrested by the Crime Branch. Stolen jewellery worth 20 lakh was recovered from them.
During further investigation, it was established that one of the workers at a jeweller's shop where the complainant used to visit for sale of his jewellery items, had tipped off the robbers. Critical analysis led police to locate Avtar Singh, one of the masterminds of the heist who had carried out exhaustive reccee of complainant's movements.
This accused was learnt to have been involved in terrorist activities and also a member of certain terrorist groups/outfits. Several teams were dispatched on probable hideouts including NCR and neighbouring states. However, his movements could only be known after lots of efforts at the local level from where he was finally arrested.
Sustained interrogation of Avtar Singh revealed the role of his accomplices and the team was able to track them down and arrest them.
The incident took place at around 8:45 PM on May 15 in the congested area of Desh Bandhu Gupta Road when two Mumbai-based diamond merchants traveling in a car were intercepted near Liberty Cinema by bike-borne assailants.
