Chandigarh, February 22 Two key individuals involved in the IED blast at the Nalagarh police station in Himachal Pradesh earlier this year have been arrested, a senior police official said on Sunday.
He identified the arrested individuals as Mahavir alias Kaka and Manpreet alias Mani, both residents of SBS Nagar in Punjab.
Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said they were apprehended during a joint operation by the Counter Intelligence wing of the Punjab Police in Jalandhar and Mohali.
During the operation, one 9mm Glock pistol and four live cartridges were recovered from the possession of the accused, he said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused were acting on the instructions of foreign masterminds Gopi Nawashehria, Jassi Kulam, and Shushant Chopra, associated with the banned terrorist outfit Babbar Khalsa International, the DGP said.
He said the arrested accused, along with their accomplices, had procured consignments containing IEDs and hand grenades based on RDX, on the instructions of their foreign handlers. They used one of these IEDs to carry out the blast at the Nalagarh police station in Solan district on January 1, 2026.
The Punjab Police had already arrested six of their accomplices, who were involved in supplying and collecting terrorist equipment. With the arrest of Kaka and Mani, the entire module has been dismantled, DGP Yadav said.
A case has been registered at the State Special Operation Cell in Mohali under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act, he added.
