CHANDIGARH: A low-intensity blast outside the Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Chandigarh has been solved with the arrest of five accused in a joint operation by Punjab Police and Chandigarh Police, the officials said. They were allegedly acting on directions of handlers based in Portugal and Germany, backed by Pakistan’s ISI.
Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Saturday that the Counter Intelligence wing of Punjab Police, in coordination with Chandigarh Police, solved the grenade attack case and recovered one hand grenade and a .30 bore Zigana pistol along with ammunition.
The arrested accused have been identified as Balwinder Lal alias Shami, Jasvir Singh alias Jassi, Charanjit Singh alias Channi, Rubal Chauhan and Mandeep alias Abhijot Sharma. Yadav said preliminary investigations revealed the module was backed by Pakistan’s ISI and operated under foreign-based handlers.
“The accused persons were part of a structured network involving multiple cutouts and sub-modules to execute the attack,” he said. He added that two key perpetrators have been identified and further investigations are underway to establish forward and backward linkages.
Assistant Inspector General of Police (SSOC) SAS Nagar Deepak Pareek said the accused had transported a consignment of hand grenades, arms and live cartridges through multiple operatives before delivery to the final perpetrators. A grenade attack was carried out outside the BJP office in Sector 37 on Wednesday.