Punjab Police on Tuesday introduced the arrest of two males suspected of lobbing a grenade on the home of senior BJP chief and former minister Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar within the wee hours.
Police amassing proof after a grenade blast outdoors the home of former Punjab minister and BJP chief Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar on Tuesday. (ANI Photograph)
Addressing a press convention in Chandigarh within the afternoon, particular director normal of police, regulation and order, Arpit Shukla stated that the 2 suspects had been arrested and the e-rickshaw used to commit the crime had additionally been confiscated.
“The involvement of Pakistan-based gangsters Shehzaad Bhatti and Zeeshan Akhtar, an aide of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has surfaced,” Shukla stated.
Akhtar, who’s from Jalandhar and at giant, is accused of killing former Maharashtra minister and NCP chief Baba Siddiqui in Mumbai on October 12 final yr.
“Preliminary probe shows that the attack seems to be the handiwork of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The role of Babbar Khalsa International is also being probed,” Shukla stated.
Central companies are serving to Punjab Police resolve the case, he added.
The police didn’t disclose the names of the 2 suspects, saying that it might hamper the investigation.
That is the 18th such grenade assault within the border state of Punjab up to now seven months. The police declare to have solved “almost all incidents”.
Earlier, the grenade assaults had been carried out on police stations throughout the state, together with in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Patiala districts, apart from a temple in Amritsar and YouTuber Rozer Sandhu’s home in Jalandhar, however that is the primary time a political chief’s home has been focused.
The police time period these assaults “desperate attempts” by the ISI and a nexus of gangsters and terrorists, together with Babbar Khalsa Worldwide (BKI), led by Harvinder Singh Rinda, and Khalistan Zindabad Power (KZF), headed by Ranjit Singh Neeta, overseas to destabilise Punjab and additional their extremist agenda by luring native kids to do their bidding for cash.
The primary such assault was carried out on September 9, 2024, when Rohan Masih and Vishal Masih allegedly hurled a grenade at a home in Sector 10, Chandigarh, to focus on a retired police officer. Each accused had been arrested and the Nationwide Investigation Company probe discovered it was the result of a conspiracy by BKI terrorists Rinda and US-based Harpreet Singh, alias Joyful Passia.