Six persons have been arrested and two pistols seized in connection with the grenade attack on the intervening night of March 29 and 30 at the Bhindi Saida police station in Amritsar district, officials said on Monday. The module was backed by Pakistan’s ISI, director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.
It was a joint operation of the Amritsar Rural police and the Faridkot police, in association with the Ferozepur counter intelligence. Those arrested have been identified as Baljit Singh, a resident of Chak Dogra village, Prabh Singh of Chota Fatehwal, Rajbir Singh of Baba Gum Chak Ballarwal, Sukhpreet Singh of Thehra Rajputan, Ajaydeep Singh, alias Ajay, alias Gazni, of Lopoke and Sahib Singh, alias Saba, of Sarangdev. All of them hail from Amritsar district.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said the accused were in contact with a Pakistan-based handler who had been directing terror activities in Punjab. The module was radicalised and motivated to target police establishments, with promises of substantial financial rewards for executing the attack, he said. Further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages and to dismantle the entire network, Yadav said.
Deputy inspector general (DIG), Border Range, Sandeep Goel said that during investigation, it came to light that Baljit Singh and Prabh Singh had retrieved two hand grenades from a location near Gharinda. The probe also revealed that the accused were promised a large sum, but eventually got only a paltry amount for carrying out the attack, he said.
Sharing operational details, Faridkot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Pragya Jain said police teams arrested two persons from Faridkot. During investigation, four others were arrested from Amritsar, she said.
Amritsar Rural SSP Suhail Qasim Mir said that on the day of the incident, Baljit, Prabh and Rajbir went on a bike and parked it approximately 1-2 km away from the Bhindi Saida police station in agricultural fields and reached the rear side of the station on foot. “Baljit and Prabh hurled hand grenades at the police station, while Rajbir recorded the entire incident. After executing the attack, they moved through fields and hid themselves in wheat crops for approximately three to four hours,” he added.
The SSP added that the accused later disposed of their clothes in a drain nearly 1 km from the police station to destroy evidence. They retrieved their motorcycle at around 5 am and fled. No one was injured in the attack.
On March 30, an FIR was registered under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act; Sections 13, 16, 18 and 19 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; Sections 109, 61(1), 61(2), 3 (5) and 324 (4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Section 25 of the Arms Act at the Bhindi Saida police station.
