The counter-intelligence wing of Punjab Police, in a joint operation with Chandigarh Police and Haryana Police, arrested the two main perpetrators, who lobbed a hand grenade outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Sector 37, Chandigarh, on April 1, director general of police Gaurav Yadav said on Sunday.
With this, the total number of arrests in the case has risen to seven. Those arrested from Rewari have been identified as Gurtej Singh and Amanpreet Singh, both residents of Rattangarh in Rupnagar, police officials, privy to the probe, said.
The duo was trying to flee to Nepal. Accused Amanpreet Singh has a prior criminal record, with FIRs of theft and snatching registered against him in Mohali and Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, respectively, the official added.
3 accused worked as bike taxi drivers in UT
According to police, the accused Gurtej, Amanpreet and Mandeep used to work for a ride-hailing company in Chandigarh, and were well-versed about the escape routes.
On Saturday, the CI wing of the Punjab Police, in coordination with the Chandigarh Police, arrested five members of the terror module. The arrested individuals have been identified as Balwinder Lal alias Shami of Majari village in SBS Nagar, Jasvir Singh alias Jassi of Bharapur village in SBS Nagar, Charanjit Singh alias Channi of Sujawalpur village in SBS Nagar, Rubal Chauhan of Thana village in Shimla and Mandeep alias Abhijot Sharma of Dhuri in Sangrur.
“Rubal Chauhan came in touch with the other accused because of friendship. Chauhan is a student and is studying in a leading college in Chandigarh, and picked a grenade from Ropar to drop it on the main accused,” the senior police functionary said, pleading anonymity.
One hand grenade, along with a .30-bore Zigana pistol were recovered from their possession. Preliminary investigation indicates that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) backed the module, which operated under the direct instructions of handlers based in Portugal and Germany, the DGP said.
Came in contact with foreign-based handlers 6 months ago
According to DGP Yadav, with these latest arrests, all seven accused involved in the case are now in police custody.
“The arrested accused had been motivated and directed by ISI-backed foreign-based handlers, Baljot Singh alias Jot in Portugal and Harjeet Singh Laadi in Germany, and were promised a monetary reward of ₹2 lakh for carrying out the attack,” Yadav said.
Acting on the directions of their foreign-based handlers, the accused persons coordinated the delivery and execution of the attack, he said, adding that the accused persons used multiple cutouts and sub-modules to execute the attack.
The DGP said that during preliminary questioning, accused Gurtej Singh disclosed that he had come in contact with a foreign-based handler approximately six months ago via a social media platform.
Acting on the handler’s instructions, Gurtej, along with his co-accused Rubal Chauhan and Mandeep, collected the consignment of arms and grenades from Jasvir Singh alias Jassi from Bharapur village in SBS Nagar on March 28 last month, Yadav said, adding that Gurtej subsequently took Amanpreet Singh along to carry out the attack.
The DGP said that on April 1, after conducting a recce, Amanpreet hurled the grenade, while Gurtej recorded the act on his mobile phone at the handler’s behest. Both accused thereafter fled the scene, he said.
The explosion occurred around 5 pm on Wednesday when an explosive device was hurled near the office, officials had said. No casualties were reported. An unverified video that surfaced on social media showed a man pulling the pin from a blue-coloured grenade and throwing it, while another person was recording the act. The duo is seen fleeing just moments before the blast. Their faces were not visible in the 10-second video, and the authenticity of the footage has yet to be verified. CCTV camera recordings also captured suspects running across the road immediately after the explosion. In a separate unverified social media post, attributed to Sukhjinder Singh Babbar of the banned Babbar Khalsa International, the outfit had claimed responsibility for the incident.
