The Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) is prone to take over the probe right into a hand grenade assault on the residence of Punjab BJP chief Manoranjan Kalia from Punjab Police.
Canine squad on the residence of former Punjab minister and BJP chief Manoranjan Kalia’s after a blast . (ANI File)
The sleuths of federal businesses are already tenting in Jalandhar metropolis and have held a sequence of conferences with the senior officers of Jalandhar police.
The groups additionally visited Kalia’s residence, the place a hand grenade was lobbed on April 7, shattering glass panes and damaging autos. Nobody was injured within the blast.
Jalandhar commissioner of police Dhanpreet Kaur Randhawa mentioned: “We also came to know that the NIA will be taking over the case but there is no formal communication yet.”
The CP added: “Once we receive an official communiqué, we will follow the due process to hand over the case files and findings in the case that have come to the fore during our investigation.”
It has been learnt that the NIA sleuths have quizzed the three accused arrested within the case. The cops have arrested three individuals together with the primary accused Saidul Ameen, who lobbed the hand grenade at Kalia’s residence have been arrested within the case.
Two different accused Ravinder alias Harry and his cousin Satish, proprietor of the e-rickshaw used within the crime are additionally in police custody.
The primary accused Ameen was arrested by Punjab Police in a joint coordinated operation with Delhi Police and central businesses on April 12 and is in Jalandhar police custody for seven days. His remand will finish on April 19. Two different accused Satish and Harry are additionally in police custody and can produced in court docket on Saturday.
One of many senior officers, who didn’t want to be named, mentioned the NIA has been in contact with the Punjab Police investigation after the function of terror outfits and gangster nexus got here to the fore in the course of the course of the investigation.
“The federal agency has been on the ground gathering key information from the senior officials and visiting the crime spot, which is a standard operating procedure (SOP) before taking over any investigation. We have already been coordinating with NIA and other central agencies with regard to the probe,” the official mentioned.
Probe to this point
Preliminary probe by Punjab police has revealed a bigger conspiracy orchestrated by Pakistan’s Inter-Companies Intelligence to disrupt communal concord in Punjab. The police have claimed that the plot was masterminded by Zeeshan Akhtar, an in depth aide of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Pakistan-based ISI-sponsored gangster Shahzad Bhatti. The function of Pakistan-based Babbar Khalsa Worldwide (BKI) can also be being probed.
The continued probe has additionally revealed the monetary hyperlink to the executors of the grenade assault. The function of the Haryana-based accused recognized as Abhijot, who was arrested by the Haryana Police on April 11 after an alternate of fireside in Kurukshetra, can also be being probed.
“During the investigation, it came to fore that Abhijot provided financial logistics to the main accused Ameen, who paid ₹3,500 to Satish and Harry before hurling a grenade at Kalia’s residence,” the police have claimed.
The Jalandhar police have already added Part 113 (terrorist act) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act (UAPA) within the already registered FIR. The preliminary FIR was registered underneath Sections 109 (try to homicide), 324(3) (mischief inflicting harm to the property) and 61(2) (prison conspiracy) of the BNS and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act.
Punjab has witnessed a number of grenade assaults previously seven months. Typically, police installations have been focused.