Ludhiana: Dreaded Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, who along with five others on Sunday, was freed from the high-security Nabha jail in Punjab, was arrested in November 2014 as he returned to India from Thailand after being deported from there.
47-year-old Mintoo was nabbed from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in New Delhi in 2014 along with an aide, Gurpreet Singh, after security and intelligence agencies tracked him.
Before being arrested, he was the member of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). In 2009, he had left Wadhawa Singh-led Babbar Khalsa International and revived the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF).
As he was trying to revive and strengthen the KLF with foreign-based supporters, he visited Pakistan and later travelled to Italy, Belgium, Germany, France and other European countries for 11 months (between June 2013 and May 2014) before coming to Southeast Asia.
As per the Punjab police, Mintoo had close contact with Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers.
He was wanted in several terror cases in Punjab including the 2008 attack on Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and recovery of explosives at Halwara Air Force station in 2010.
He was also wanted for plotting killings of three Punjab Shiv Sena leaders and for planting IEDs at Halwara Air Force station near Ludhiana in 2010.
Police had claimed that Mintoo was planning terrorist strikes in the region.
