E-Paper
Two held for grenade attack on BJP leader Kalia’s house in Punjab’s Jalandhar
Punjab Police special DGP, law and order, Arpit Shukla says attack handiwork of ISI and cites role of Pakistan-based gangsters Zeeshan Akhtar, an aide of Lawrence Bishnoi, and Shehzaad Bhatti.
Punjab Police on Tuesday announced the arrest of two men suspected of lobbing a grenade at the house of senior BJP leader and former minister Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar in the wee hours.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh in the afternoon, special director general of police, law and order, Arpit Shukla said that the two suspects had been arrested and the e-rickshaw used to commit the crime had also been confiscated.
“The involvement of Pakistan-based gangsters Shehzaad Bhatti and Zeeshan Akhtar, an aide of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has surfaced,” Shukla said.
Akhtar, who is from Jalandhar and at large, is accused of killing former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddiqui in Mumbai on October 12 last year.
“Preliminary probe shows that the attack seems to be the handiwork of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The role of Babbar Khalsa International is also being probed,” Shukla said.
Central agencies are helping Punjab Police solve the case, he added.
The police did not disclose the names of the two suspects, saying that it would hamper the investigation.
This is the 18th such grenade attack in the border state of Punjab in the past seven months. The police claim to have solved “almost all incidents”.
Earlier, the grenade attacks were carried out on police stations across the state, including in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Patiala districts, besides a temple in Amritsar and YouTuber Rozer Sandhu’s house in Jalandhar, but this is the first time a political leader’s house has been targeted.
The police term these attacks “desperate attempts” by the ISI and a nexus of gangsters and terrorists, including Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), led by Harvinder Singh Rinda, and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), headed by Ranjit Singh Neeta, abroad to destabilise Punjab and further their extremist agenda by luring local youngsters to do their bidding for money.
The first such attack was carried out on September 9, 2024, when Rohan Masih and Vishal Masih allegedly hurled a grenade at a house in Sector 10, Chandigarh, to target a retired police officer. Both accused were arrested and the National Investigation Agency probe found it was the outcome of a conspiracy by BKI terrorists Rinda and US-based Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Passia.
