CHANDIGARH, India -- Security forces Tuesday captured Punjab state's most-wanted Sikh extremist, a self-styled lieutenant general sought in more than 50 killings, police said. It was the third arrest of a Sikh radical leader in three days.
Punjab Police Chief Julius Ribeiro said police and paramilitary troops captured Tarsem Singh Kohar and two other Sikh extremists aboard a bus at 10:30 a.m.
He identified Kohar's companions as Sukhdev Singh and Jagdish Kaur and said the three offered no resistance when taken into custody near Dayalpur, 85 miles northwest of Chandigarh.
Kohar, who carried a 100,000-rupee (about $8,060) reward on his head, is the self-styled lieutenant general of the 'KhalistanCommando Force,' one of several major Sikh extremist groups fighting to turn the northern state of Punjab into an independent Sikh nation called 'Khalistan.'
More than 400 people, mostly Hindus, have died this year in Punjab in Sikh extremist violence apparently aimed at terrifying the state's minority Hindus into fleeing.
Kohar's capture follows the Aug. 9 arrest of the group's leader, Manbir Singh Chereu, who called himself Gen. Hari Singh. He and Kohar had topped the most-wanted list.
Caught with Chereu was Baldev Singh Ghuman, who called himself the Khalistan 'defense minister.' Ribeiro said Chereu had provided police with the information that led to the capture of Kohar and his companions.
Ribeiro said Chereu was his group's chief strategist, while Kohar was 'the main hit man of the gang' and 'was involved in more than 50 killings.'
The arrests were announced as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government introduced in Parliament a resolution that will allow it to create an army-patrolled security belt along Punjab's 210-mile border with Pakistan to prevent Sikh extremists from entering the state.
India charges Pakistan with harboring and training Sikh separatists. Islamabad denies the charge.
Kohar is a prime suspect in the July 25 slayings of 13 Hindus and a clean-shaven Sikh aboard a bus near the southwestern town of Mukhstar, the worst single attack of its kind in Punjab since Sikh extremists began their violent separatist drive in 1981, Ribeiro said.
Four Sikh gunmen forced the Sikh passengers and women and children off the vehicle and opened fire on the remaining riders. Five people were wounded.
The attack sparked Hindu protests in New Delhi that degenerated into rioting and clashes between Hindus and Sikhs. Six people were killed and 70 were injured in police gunfire and mob violence.
Ribeiro said Kohar and Sukhdev Singh were involved in the April 10 hijacking of a train during which five police officers were killed.
Kaur, a woman, was a courier for the 'Khalistan Commando Force,' Ribeiro said.
