Chandigarh, April 5 The Punjab Police has arrested two alleged perpetrators of a recent blast outside the BJP headquarters in Chandigarh, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to seven, a senior police officer said on Sunday.
The accused were allegedly part of a module backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and were receiving instructions from their handlers in Germany and Portugal, police said.
The latest arrests were made in Rewari, Haryana, on Saturday night in a joint operation with the Haryana Police's Special Task Force (STF), Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said.
"The two individuals have been identified as Gurtej Singh and Amanpreet Singh, both residents of Ratangarh village in Punjab's Rupnagar district. They were working as bike operators for the ride-hailing service provider, Rapido," the police chief said at a press conference.
The handlers, Baljot Singh alias Jot in Portugal and Harjeet Singh Laadi in Germany, motivated the accused to carry out the attack in exchange for a monetary reward of Rs 2 lakh, the DGP said.
On April 1, a blast occurred outside the Punjab BJP headquarters in Chandigarh's Sector 37 around 5 pm, shattering the windows of several cars and damaging a scooter. There were no casualties.
Police initially suspected it to be a crude bomb attack, which later turned out to be a hand grenade explosion.
"Amanpreet was previously involved in a theft case in Mohali. He was also booked for snatching in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh," the DGP said at the press conference.
According to police, Gurtej came into contact with Portugal-based Baljot Singh, the main handler of the module, six months ago through social media.
"On March 28, Gurtej was tasked with collecting a consignment of grenades and other weapons from Balachaur in Punjab’s Nawanshahr," the DGP said.
The consignment was collected by Gurtej, Mandeep and Rubal Chauhan from Jasvir Singh alias Jassi. It contained two grenades, one pistol and 10 cartridges, the officer said.
Mandeep, Rubal and Jasvir were among the five people arrested in the case earlier.
"Baljot tasked Gurtej with target identification and conducting a reconnaissance. Amanpreet was enlisted by Gurtej," Yadav said.
It was Amanpreet who threw the grenade outside the BJP office, while Gurtej filmed the act, he said.
"Their foreign handlers shared videos with them on how to hurl a grenade. Instructions were also given over the cellphone," Yadav said.
Gurtej and Amanpreet were promised Rs 2 lakh for carrying out the blast, he said.
On Saturday, the DGP had said that the counter-intelligence wing of Punjab Police had cracked the case in a joint operation with Chandigarh Police.
The five men arrested earlier were identified as Balwinder Lal alias Shami, Jasvir Singh alias Jassi, Charanjit Singh alias Channi, and Mandeep alias Abhijot Sharma, all from Punjab, and Rubal Chauhan from Himachal Pradesh.
The consignment was delivered through a multi-layered chain of operatives, the DGP said.
On March 16, Balwinder, who was an acquaintance of Portugal-based Baljot, collected the arms consignment, which was later received by Charanjit, who worked for Germany-based Harjot Singh.
Charanjit gave the consignment to Jasvir, who received Rs 20,000 for keeping it safe, the DGP said.
On March 28, Jasvir handed the consignment to Gurtej, Mandeep and Rubal, he said.
In response to a question, the DGP said that Pakistan's ISI operated the module to spread disruption in Punjab.
Asked if the attackers wanted to target Punjab BJP leader Ashwani Sharma, Yadav refused to comment, saying the investigation was still in its preliminary stages.
Yadav also thanked the Chandigarh Police and Haryana Police for their key role in unraveling the conspiracy and arresting the accused.
Senior officers of the Punjab Police accompanied the DGP at the press conference.