Jalandhar : The prime accused involved in hurling a grenade at the house of a Jalandhar-based YouTuber was arrested from Yamunanagar district in Haryana, police said on Tuesday.
Hardik Kamboj, 18, was brought to Jalandhar and taken for weapon recovery when he opened fire on the police in a bid to flee but sustained a bullet injury as the team retaliated, police said. He was shot in the leg, said officials
Kamboj had hurled the explosive at the house of YouTuber Rozer Sandhu on Sunday. However, it did not explode. Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging the YouTuber was abusing Islam.
Jalandhar range deputy inspector general of Police Naveen Singla confirmed that the metal-like object thrown at Sandhu’s house was an Arges-type grenade (it is a conventional hand grenade system designed to inflict massive damage against soft targets within its blast radius, spraying shrapnel out to a distance of 30 meters), which failed to detonate.
“Shahzad Bhatti is a self-styled ‘don’ of Pakistan and is an active operative of ISI, a Pakistan intelligence service. The ISI has orchestrated this attack after being baffled by the state government’s war against drugs. The attack was carried through its operative, Bhatti arranged Hardik Kamboj through Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, a wanted criminal in Baba Siddiqui murder case,” Singla said.
He added that Kamboj, who confessed to throwing a grenade at Sandhu’s house, came in contact with Zeeshan through social media and was later introduced to Bhatti. Kamboj was given ₹25,000 for throwing the grenade on Sandhu’s house, the police said.
{{/usCountry}}He added that Kamboj, who confessed to throwing a grenade at Sandhu’s house, came in contact with Zeeshan through social media and was later introduced to Bhatti. Kamboj was given ₹25,000 for throwing the grenade on Sandhu’s house, the police said.
{{/usCountry}}He added that a special investigation team has been constituted under SP (investigation) Jasroop Kaur Bath to arrest Kamboj’s accomplices, who provided him with other key logistics and harboured him.
“The investigation is at a very advanced stage as other members of this ISI-sponsored module will be arrested soon,” Singla said.
Police have registered case against Hardik Kamboj, Zeeshan Akhtar, Shahzad Bhatti and other unidentified individuals under Sections of 109 (murder) of the BNS, 3,4, 5 of the Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) at the Maqsudan police station.
Police said the accused got panicked and failed to remove the pin from the grenade due to which it didn’t explode.
The .32-bore pistol with which Kamboj attacked the police team and six live rounds were seized. In self-defence, the police party took action, resulting in a leg injury to the accused. He was immediately provided medical assistance and taken to the civil hospital, Jalandhar, said officials.
Senior superintendent of police (Jalandhar rural) Gurmeet Singh told reporters that Kamboj was arrested from Bihta village in Bilaspur sub-division of Yamunanagar on Monday evening.
During questioning, he confessed to his involvement in Sunday’s attack. He was brought for weapon recovery in Jalandhar on Tuesday morning, the SSP said. During the recovery, the accused picked up the weapon and opened fire at the police team that retaliated, injuring him in the leg.