Major breakthrough in Nabha jailbreak: Mastermind Parminder Singh arrested, huge cache of arms recovered

One of the Nabha jail attackers has been arrested with huge cache of arms and ammunition from Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh.

Chandigarh: In a major breakthrough, police arrested Parminder Singh, one of the Nabha jail attackers, from Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from his possession. 

Parminder was among the group of ten armed men who attacked the high-security Nabha Jail in Punjab's Patiala district today and escaped with six prisoners, including a Khalistan Liberation Front chief Harminder Mintoo. 

ADG UP Daljeet Singh Choudhary confirmed the news and told ANI that Parminder has confessed to his crimes. 

"He has confessed to his crimes. There was a high alert in Uttar Pradesh since morning and we had information that the accused might try to go towards Nepal. During checking operation, we nabbed him," the ADG UP said.

lso read: Nabha jailbreak: Rajnath Singh seeks detailed report, asks Punjab CM to tighten security in all jails

Parminder is said to be the mastermind of the high-security Nabha jailbreak incident. As per the report, he was caught while trying to flee to Nepal in a car. His arrest has come as the first breakthrough in the jailbreak incident.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, another car with a Punjab number plate has been found in Sonu Majra village in Kaithal district of Haryana. Police are suspecting that the car might have been used by the Nabha attackers. 

Earlier today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal about the Nabha jailbreak and sought a detailed report from the state government on the incident.

Singh, who was in Hyderabad, also asked the Chief Minister to take urgent steps to tighten security in all jails in Punjab, officials said.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also spoke to the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and apprised him of the details of the incident. He updated the NSA on steps being taken to apprehend the culprits.    

In the sensational jailbreak, a group of men in police uniform attacked the Nabha jail and freed six prisoners, including pro-Khalistan leader Harminder Mintoo, an accused in 10 cases.

The incident came two days after Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked security forces to guard against attempts to disturb peace through "vicious" political campaign or by external extremist forces during the election process in Punjab and four other states.

A massive manhunt was launched to trace the inmates who escaped from the jail and a special task force was also formed to track them.