Ahead of the 38th anniversary week of Operation Bluestar starting on Monday, security cover at the Ludhiana station has been beefed up.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) here have directed all staff to not take leave and the CIA staff and sabotage squad have also been asked to remain present at the station throughout the week .
“We have deployed special staff for checking and even the staff at all sub-stations under Ludhiana GRP have been instructed to carry out patrolling and inspections in their areas everyday,” said Balram Rana, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), GRP, Ludhiana.
Teams of GRP initiated special checking drives at Jagraon station, Ludhiana station, Nanaksar, Chaukiman station and Baddowal station among others on Saturday.
The Ludhiana police commissioner has also constituted a special team to scale up security at the railway station. Moreover, GRP Ludhiana has asked the station director to ensure that all illegal entries and exits to the station are blocked.
3 bomb threat letters received in past month
On May 24, a letter was found at the office of Ludhiana station director Abhinav Singla, which threatened to blow up the railway station and prominent shrines in the state. It was allegedly written by one Salim Ansari, a commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad.
The GRP Ludhiana, on the basis of a complaint submitted by Singla, had registered a case against unidentified suspects under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 505 (1) (b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code.
{{/usCountry}}The GRP Ludhiana, on the basis of a complaint submitted by Singla, had registered a case against unidentified suspects under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 505 (1) (b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code.
{{/usCountry}}“The letter mentioned that the station and prominent places of worship in the state will be blown up on May 21 and May 23, respectively, but the letter was found on May 24. Though we have registered a case here and scaled the security cover, but we think some miscreants are trying to create panic and hamper peace,” a police officer said.
Also, on April 28, two letters were retrieved from the Sultanpur Lodhi railway station and the office of Ferozepur divisional railway manager Seema Sharma, which threatened bomb blasts at numerous busy stations in the state, while also targeting Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the governor and Sharma. These were also allegedly written by Ansari.