CHANDIGARH: The person killed in the blast at the Ludhiana district court and suspected to be carrying the bomb has been identified as a dismissed head constable of Punjab Police, who might have had links with Pakistan-based terror groups.
Police sources said the deceased has been identified as Gagandeep Singh. He was dismissed from service after being arrested under the NDPS Act on August 11, 2019 in Mohali by the special task force on drugs. He was posted at Sadar Police Station in Khanna. He was sentenced to two years in jail. He was released in September this year.
“He was identified on the basis of a SIM card tracked in a wireless dongle. Also, the family of the deceased identified and confirmed that the body was of Gagandeep,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
The body had a ‘Khanda’ (Sikh religious symbol) tattooed on the arm. Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said his government has sought the Centre’s help in investigating the explosion that rocked the Ludhiana court premises.
Channi said he had spoken to Home Minister Amit Shah and that the Centre has sent probe teams to Punjab.
“We need the Centre’s help as Punjab does not have the equipment to check the kind of RDX used in the blast.’’ He said investigations so far have shown that the only person who died in the blast was the one trying to set it up. He added that as of now, no one has taken responsibility for the blast.
“Neither have we got any indication of who might be behind the incident,’’ he said, denying intelligence failure.
Earlier in the day, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Prakash visited the blast site.
In an unrelated development, Channi slammed the Shiromani Akali Dal, which has accused his government of doing dirty politics in the registration of a drugs case against former minister Bikram Singh Majithia.