Patiala (PTI): A court here today acquitted alleged Khalistan Tiger Force terrorist Ramandeep Singh alias Goldy in a blast case of 2010 due to lack of evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravideep Singh Hundal granted him the reprieve after the prosecution could not convince the court why the eyewitnesses took so long to record their statements, defence lawyer B S Sodhi said.
On April 20, 2010, the blast rocked the Arya Samaj area – a busy market place in interior Patiala city – near the popular Satyanarayan Mandir. Seven persons, including two policemen, were injured in the blast.
Goldy was arrested by Punjab Police from Malaysia in 2014.
All the other accused were also acquitted earlier.
ACCORDING to the Tribune newspaper, Goldy was arrested at the Chennai Airport soon after he was brought to India from Malaysia in November 2014. The police had claimed that Goldy, said to be a Khalistan Tiger Force leader, was wanted for the July 2009 killing of Rulda Singh, president of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an RSS affiliate, and the blasts in Patiala and Ambala in August 2010. The Rulda Singh case against him is still pending in a local court.
The police had alleged that soon after Rulda’s murder, Goldy had fled to Thailand, from where he went to Pakistan and underwent arms training for two weeks before returning to India.