Nabha jailbreak: Harminder Singh Mintoo skyped handler in Pakistan from prison

NEW DELHI: Two days before the daring Nabha jailbreak, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo had been able to have a Skype conversation with his handler Harmeet, a KLF terrorist who had managed to flee to Pakistan and is currently in a safe house under ISI protection in Lahore's Dera Chall village.

Harmeet had chalked out the jail break plan. Mintoo told police he had discussed plans to revive KLF with Harmeet and asked him to arrange funds from contacts in Pakistan. Mintoo admitted to having created sleeper cells in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand between 2009 and 2014. He was plotting to revive modules in India. Sleuths are probing if he was arranging funds for a strike ahead of Punjab polls.

Mintoo had instructed another KLF handler in Germany to transfer funds to an account that could be accessed by him using Western Union Money Transfer. Rs one lakh was to be handed over to him on November 27 by Tajinder Sharma, the owner of a sweet shop near Nabha jail, hours before the jail break. Tajinder, however, could not reach the jail on time. According to sources, Mintoo was carrying Rs 19,000 that had been transferred by Sandeep, a sympathiser from London.

Mintoo had also been maintaining a diary in his jail cell, which has been seized. It contains Pakistani contact numbers. He revealed that Harmeet had tasked Satnam Kaur, daughter of a close aide, to facilitate the escape along with Parminder, a key conspirator. Satnam and Parminder, who had met in Nabha jail a few years ago, were in a relationship.

While Satnam, arrested in a drug trafficking case, was released on bail, Parminder had escaped while being taken to a hospital after he complained of toothache.