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Jalandhar IED blast accused’s police remand extended by 5 days
Several incriminating chats with ISI-backed Pak gangster Shahzad Bhatti retrieved from both accused’s mobiles: Cops
The local court on Thursday extended the custody of two accused in the improvised explosive device (IED) blast outside the Border Security Force (BSF) Punjab Frontier headquarters in Jalandhar for another five days.
Accused Anil Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh currently residing in Amritsar, and Umar Deen, a taxi driver based in Zirakpur, were produced in the court after their seven-day police custody ended.
A senior official, privy to the investigation, said during the course of interrogation of both the accused, it has come to fore that they were in constant touch with their Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence-sponsored radical module run by Shahzad Bhatti via social media apps.
“Bhatti was giving them instructions from time to time separately. Several incriminating chats from the mobile phones of both the accused with alleged Pakistan handler have been recovered from their mobile phones. Though the accused deleted the chats from their mobile phones, some of the content has been retrieved. The content reveals that the duo was in contact with Bhatti for nearly two months,” the official said. While Umar Deen was tasked with planting the IED outside the BSF headquarters, Anil travelled from Amritsar only to record the blast video, the Punjab police probe found.
Police registered a case under Sections 113 (terrorist acts), 109 (attempt to murder) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The officer added that the car in which Umar Deen went to plant the IED in a dustbin outside the BSF headquarters has also been recovered.
“We are still tracking an explosive supplier based near the international border with Pakistan. During their interrogation, it also came to fore that the whole module worked in isolation and neither of the accused knew each other at all. Even Umar Deen had no interaction with an individual who provided him with explosive,” an official said.
Meanwhile, police said that during their custody, no other sort of explosives or ammunition was recovered so far. “The accused claimed to have no links with an IED blast orchestrated outside the army Cantonment in Amritsar’s Khasa area,” he added.
The case pertains to a blast that took place outside the BSF Punjab Frontier headquarters in Jalandhar around 8pm on May 5. The explosion ripped apart a delivery scooter parked near the complex and shattered windowpanes nearby, causing panic in the high-security zone. A second explosion occurred hours later that night, around 11.15pm, near the boundary wall of the Khasa army cantonment in Amritsar, where the impact dislodged a tin sheet.
Though no casualties were reported in either incident, the twin explosions raised serious security concerns, particularly because both targeted sensitive security establishments in Punjab.
On May 14, both the accused were arrested following an intensive multi-state operation launched after investigators traced technical and digital evidence collected from the blast site.
Investigators suspect the attacks were part of a larger conspiracy aimed at creating fear among the public and projecting instability in Punjab, especially on the anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
Following their arrest, investigators further disclosed that Umar Deen was allegedly paid around ₹1 lakh for carrying out the operation.
Anil, according to police, worked as a construction labourer and lived in rented accommodation in Amritsar.
The banned Khalistan Liberation Army (KLA) claimed responsibility for the Jalandhar blast through an unverified social media post. The outfit termed the attack as “revenge” for the encounter of Ranjit Singh, a key accused in the killing of security personnel in Gurdaspur. Officials, however, said the authenticity of the claim is still being verified as part of the broader investigation.
