The Delhi Police’s Special Cell has nabbed a gangster-turned-terror associate from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. Police said the accused, who was wanted for over two years, was connected to terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, who is an accused in the terror attack at Punjab’s Nawanshahr Crime Investigating Agency (CIA) building on November 8 last year.

The accused identified as Kawar Randeep Singh alias SK Kharoud, a resident of Baran near Patiala in Punjab, was also closely connected with Virender Pratap allias Kala Rana (deported from Thailand in 2022) and Satenderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar of the Lawrence Bishnoi syndicate. Police said that his name came up after the Special Cell arrested four assailants, along with two others, from different parts of Punjab and Haryana between September 2 and 5 in connection with the firing incident outside a Nalagarh court in Himachal Pradesh last month which was part of a conspiracy to rescue the killer of Youth Akali Dal leader Vicky Middukhera.

HGS Dhaliwal, the Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell said that initial technical leads were stabilised, intensive efforts, both technical and manual, along with the deployment of local informers, was resorted to for tracing Kharoud, who was in contact with criminals and terrorists from across the border.

“His tele-selector was located in village Khai Khera, Bareilly and Kharoud, a close associate of Rinda’s criminal-terror nexus, was arrested on September 12,” said the Special CP. “During interrogation, the accused revealed that his first crime was a local scuffle over a political matter in which he was booked under Section 307, IPC.

While in jail, he came in contact with Rinda and got closely associated with him,” said the Special CP. “Along with Rinda, Kharoud was involved in five criminal cases, one of them being an audacious armed attack on the then President of SOI (Akali) Manpreet Singh Aulakh in Chandigarh University in 2016.

Kharoud also got associated with dreaded gangster Dilpreet Singh Dahan alias Baba, a close associate of Rinda and has been a co-accused with him also in other crimes,” said the Special CP. “After committing the murder of Tara Dutt, a resident of Vikas Nagar, Patiala, who was an elected Sarpanch and associate of jailed gangster Virender alias Binder Gujjar, Kharoud had taken shelter in Bareilly.

 There, once he reconnected with Rinda, he was being instigated to work for community liberation and for the purpose, was amassing arms and ammunition,” he said. “Police have also recovered five sophisticated semi-automatic pistols, including one Chinese PX-9, with ammunitions from his possession,” he added.

Police said that Kharoud is a Proclaimed Offender of Anaj Mandi police station in Patiala and his property, worth over Rs1.20 crore had been attached under Section 83 CrPC proceedings.Kharoud had also joined the Congress before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which had then sparked a controversy in Punjab’s political affairs.