CHANDIGARH: Alert has been sounded and security stepped up after four men in Army fatigue were seen in a car with an Uttar Pradesh registration number in Patiala, the home town of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
Police said that the men were spotted either in a Ford Figo or Hyundai car which had an Uttar Pradesh registration number early on Monday morning. The witnesses said the vehicle was moving suspiciously. It was first spotted at the National Highway toll barrier at Dhareri Jattan village on Patiala-Rajpura road and then near the Army cantonment area on Patiala-Sangrur road around 8 AM. Police sounded an alert after the witnesses reported the matter to the police.
Senior Superintended of Police, Patiala, Mandeep Singh Sidhu said, "we are looking into the matter and all vehicles are being searched."
The police are trying to ascertain the threat. Nakas have been put throughout the city and four police teams have been formed to look out for the vehicle, he said.
The incident has assumed significance as Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is visiting a university in Patiala on Monday. A police team has rushed to the place where the religious leader is visiting. Security has also been beefed up around prominent schools in the city.
For the past three days, Punjab Police had carried out massive search operations in three border districts Pathankot, Gurdaspur, and Batala after intelligence inputs about a possible terror strike in the state.