CHANDIGARH: In a major breakthrough, Punjab Police has traced the grenade attack on Nirankari Satsang Bhawan in Amritsar to ISI-backed Khalistani forces in Pakistan. The police arrested one of the two perpetrators less than 72 hours after three persons were killed and twenty injured in the attack.
Addressing a media conference on Wednesday, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said the accused has been identified as 26-year old Bikramjit Singh alias Bikram, a native of Dhariwal village, near Rajasansi in Amritsar. He was arrested on Wednesday morning from near Loharka village.
Bikram, an operative of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), has given significant information saying that the grenade used in the attack was provided a person named Happy in Pakistan.
Happy is suspected to be the chief of the Pakistan-based KLF. A PhD holder, he is believed to have been the mastermind of a conspiracy to carry out targeted killings of RSS, Shiv Sena and DSS leaders and workers, as well as a Christian pastor in Ludhiana and Jalandhar in 2016-2017, in collaboration with Pakistani establishment and the ISI.
Amarinder categorically ruled out any religious motivation behind the attack, describing it as yet another attempt by the ISI and Pakistani establishment to carry out terrorist attacks and disturb peace in the state. It is in Pakistan's interest to keep the border on the boil to ensure peace in Pakistan, Amarinder said.
Attempts by the ISI and Pakistan establishment to link up with Punjabi and Kashmiri militant groups is a matter of concern, the CM said, adding that the police are working closely with central agencies to stop these forces from spreading their influence across the state.
Amarinder said that preliminary investigation and CCTV footage of the incident led to the arrest of Bikramjit, who has identified his accomplice as Avtar Singh Khalsa (32) of Chak Mishri Khan village, Lopoke (Ajnala) in Amritsar.
Giving further details, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora said Bikramjit was riding a motorbike at the time of his arrest. Bikram's black Bajaj Pulsar, which was used in carrying out the attack, has also been recovered.
Bikramjit has disclosed that Avtar Singh called him up on the night of November 3, asking him to be ready for an assignment next morning. Around 4.30am, Avtar reached Bikram's house and both set off on Bikram's bike to collect the hand grenade from an orchard on Majitha-Hariyan link road. They retrieved the HE 84 hand grenade, which had been buried in a half feet deep pit under a Shisham tree, police said.
According to Bikram's initial questioning, the recee of Nirankari Satsang Bhawan was carried out on the morning of November 13 when no one was present at the premises.
During the recee, the two conspirators especially checked out the locations of CCTV cameras en route, the layout plan of the Bhawan and the distance from the main gate on the boundary wall of the Bhawan to the Satsang Bhawan building.
Bikramjit has further disclosed that as decided on November 16, Bikram reached the house of Avtar Singh at Chak Mishri Khan village on his black Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle at about 9 am, where they removed the number plate of the motorcycle. They started for village Adliwal at about 9.30 am and covered their faces on the way, near Manawala village. They waited in the area for the crowd to congregate at the Satsang Bhawan. Both of them were armed with pistols at that time.
Bikramjit has further revealed that while Avtar successfully slinked into the Satsang Bhawan complex through the open gate, along with the Sangat which had just reached there, he himself managed to subdue and take control, at gunpoint, of the two sewadars who had been deployed at the two gate-posts of the Satsang Bhawan complex.
After hurling the grenade, both of them fled on Bikramjit's mobile and reached Avtar's village around 12 noon, where Avtar took back the Pistol from Bikram. After changing his clothes and appearance, Bikramjit drove back to his village on his black Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle.
According to Bikramjit, Avtar Singh was in touch with one Happy in Pakistan, who had got the hand grenade dumped near the Orchard near Majitha through some of his other associates. Bikramjit has revealed that the geo-location details as well as pictures of the dump location were sent to Avtar on his mobile to facilitate the retrieval of the hand grenade.
Harmeet Singh Happy had earlier come to notice for supply of a hand-grenade (Arges Type HG-84) of the same specifications to Shabnamdeep Singh of Samana (Patiala) a self-styled chief of Khalistan Gaddar Force (KGF), who was arrested by Punjab Police (Patiala) on October 31, 2018.
It may be mentioned that Punjab Police had earlier recovered five such hand grenades, as part of a huge consignment comprising AK 47 Rifle (1), MP 9 Rifle (1), Pistols (7), which had been sent by BKI and ISYF Rode across the Indo-Pak border and recovered them from the terrorist module of Sher Singh- Mann Singh on May 21, 2017.
It has been learnt that HG 84 hand grenade is produced by Arges of Austria and also manufactured in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) of Pakistan (as the "84-P2A1"). Such grenades are commonly used by the Armies of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Austria. HG 84 is a destructive type of grenade, which causes fragmentation after the explosion and has an effective range of 30-meter radius. These are mainly used to attack and kill a gathering of persons. Such grenades have been used in J&K in the past.
Since March 2017, Punjab Police has busted seventeen terror modules and arrested 81 militants, thereby preventing a large number of terrorist actions in the State. The State Police has seized 77 weapons from these terrorists, including very sophisticated automatic weapons, RDX/other explosives, as well as 12 hand grenades.
Since March 2017, at-least three arms consignments, pushed into Punjab by Pak ISI in collaboration with Chiefs of different Pak based Sikh militant outfits, such as International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), Khalistan ZindabadForce (KZF), Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), have been recovered by the Punjab Police. These consignments consisted of AK-47 Rifles (5), MP 9 Rifle (1), Pistols (10), hand-grenades (11).
A case was registered on November 18, under sections 302, 307, 341, 452, 427 IPC. 25 Arms Act, 3/4/5/6 Explosive Substances Act and 13 UAPA at Rajasansi Police Station.