E-Paper
Tarn Tarn blast: NIA files charge-sheet against 9 accused
Vikram Singh, 22, of Kadgill village and Harpreet Singh, 19, of Bachre village were killed, while Gurjant Singh, 27, lost his eyesight in the blast on the outskirts of the Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran district on September 4.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge-sheet before the NIA special court, Mohali, against nine accused in the Tarn Taran blast of September 2019 on Wednesday. Vikram Singh, 22, of Kadgill village and Harpreet Singh, 19, of Bachre village were killed, while Gurjant Singh, 27, lost his eyesight in the blast on the outskirts of the Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran district on September 4.
The charge-sheet had been filed under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity among different religions) of the IPC; Sections 13, 18, 18A, 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 3, 4 & 5 of the Explosive Substances Act. The charge-sheet has been filed against Massa Singh, alias Mandeep Singh, Harjit Singh. alias Harjit, Gurjant Singh, Manpreet Singh alias Maan, all of Tarn Taran; Chandeep Singh, alias Gabbar Singh of Gurdaspur; Malkit Singh, alias Sher Singh alias Shera, Amarjeet Singh, alias Amar Singh, all hailing from Amritsar and Bikramjit Singh Panjwar, alias Bikkar Baba, of Tarn Taran, and one juvenile.
The charges against two accused, Vikram Singh alias Vicky, and Harpreet Singh alias Happy, both of Tarn Taran, have abated on account of their death in the incident.
The incident took place when three of the accused, were digging a pit at an agricultural field to retrieve a dumped explosive consignment, which they had mishandled. Later, NIA took over the case.
During investigation, it was found that accused persons were radicalised pro-Khalistan youths who had formed a terrorist gang under the leadership of absconding accused, Bikramjit Singh Panjwar, alias Bikkar. This group was also found to be indulging in secessionist activity and had also procured explosive substances, prepared and tested crude bombs to carry out terrorist acts in Punjab. They were planning to target a dera at Muradpura, Tarn Taran and it was to end that the accused, Vikram Singh alias Vicky and Harpreet Singh alias Happy were retrieving the buried explosives, when the bomb blast took place.
