Tarn Taran blast: Accused planned to eliminate Sukhbir in Nov 2016: Police

The terror module behind the blast at Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran on September 5 had planned to kill then deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)

The terror module behind the blast at Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran on September 5 had planned to kill then deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal in November 2016 in a bomb attack to “avenge” the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari, the probe conducted by Punjab Police in the case has revealed.

The interrogation of one of the accused, Malkiat Singh Shera, has revealed that the kingpin of the module, Bikram Singh Panjwar alias Bikkar who had fled to Austria in 2018, was an expert in making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and had assembled bombs to attack Sukhbir.

“Bikram used to tell me that Badal family is responsible for the sacrilege and should be eliminated. He planned to attack Sukhbir and motivated me to help in this cause of the Panth. Sukhbir was scheduled to visit Golden Temple on the occasion of Prakash Purb of Guru Ram Das in November 2016 and we planned to attack him. We had even done recee in this regard,” Shera is learnt to have told the investigators.

He also “confessed” that Bikram had two bombs in his possession and gave him one of these while keeping the other with himself in order to attack Sukhbir from the main entrance of the Golden Temple.

“The plan was that Bikram will first throw a bomb at Sukhbir, which would be followed by me. We both had taken positions outside the main entry of Golden Temple. But as Sukhbir arrived with very heavy security, Bikram got frightened and could not throw bomb. Later, he kept the both bombs in a steel cover with him,” Shera told the investigators

Police officials claim that after radicalising, motivating, imparting training to other module members in making IEDs, sourcing low-grade explosives and supplying IEDs to them, Bikram escaped to Austria via Armenia in July 2018.

“Bikram, a Damdami Taksal follower, knew Shera since 2014 and used to spend most of his time in Amritsar,” a senior official privy to the probe said.

The investigation has also pointed out that the bombs that exploded on September 5 were the same bombs that were buried by Bikram in 2016-17.

Police claim that Gurjant, whom Bikram gave training in IED manufacturing, had got “fresh orders” from Bikram to carry out a bomb attack on certain VIPs. The idea was to use the bombs buried in the fields at Pandori Gola, but these exploded when Gurjant and his two associates were trying to dig them out.

Gurjant was injured and his associates Harpreet Singh and Vikramjeet were killed in the blast.

Punjab Police has already handed over the case to National Investigation Agency (NIA) in view of its national and international ramifications and suspected links of the accused with the Pak-backed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).

The module, according to the police, is “fully backed by Pakistan”.

Apart from Shera, the others arrested in the case were identified as Harjit Singh, Manpreet Singh Mann, Chandeep Singh Khalsa alias Gabbar Singh, Maandeep Singh alias Massa Singh, Amritpal Singh alias Amrit, Amarjit Singh alias Amar and Gurjant Singh.

Gurjant, who was discharged from a private hospital on Friday, was arrested by NIA and was sent to seven-day remand.

The probe has found that Chandeep Singh was found to be in regular touch with Pak-based Usman who had earlier contacted him on Facebook in 2018.