Punjab police make second arrest in Amritsar grenade attack case

The Punjab Police on Saturday arrested the second person accused in the grenade blast at Nirankari Bhavan near Amritsar on November 18.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora said that the accused, 32-year-old Avtar Singh Khalsa, has been sent to police remand till December 1 by a court at Ajnala in Amritsar district, as reported by news agency ANI. He said that weapons and ammunition have been recovered from the accused.

The DGP said that Avtar had links with a person called Javed in Pakistan and a Khalistan sympathiser Paramjit Singh Baba in Italy, as reported by news agency IANS.

"Police caught hold of Bikramjit, one of the accused and his examination led to the arrest of Avatar Singh. recovery of the weapon. The preliminary finding reveals that Paramjit Baba who I think is Italy based was instigating Avatar to commit the crime," said Arora.

Three persons were killed and at least twenty others were injured when two motorcycle-borne miscreants hurled a grenade at a religious congregation of over 200 devotees inside a Nirankari Bhawan at Adliwal village near Amritsar's Rajasansi area on November 18.

The police on Wednesday had arrested Avtar's accomplice in the attack, an alleged operative of the Khalistan Liberation Force Bikramjit Singh near Loharka village in Amritsar. He was later remanded for five days in police custody by a court in Ajnala.

Bikramjit had reportedly stood at the gate of the Nirankari Bhawan, holding the gate attendants at gunpoint. The family of Bikramjit Singh have disputed the police claim of his being involved in terrorist activities. He is a resident of Dhariwal village in Rajasansi police station area.

Bikramjit Singh indicated to the police that the grenade was provided by Harmeet Singh Happy, also known as 'PhD' and suspected to be the Pakistan-based KLF chief.

The attack was described by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as a "terrorist act". The CM had blamed Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistan-based masterminds of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) for the terror attack. He also said the grenade used in the blast was Pakistan-made. Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora said the motorcycle was recovered.

CCTV footage of the attack helped arrest Bikramjit Singh, who then identified Khalsa, a resident of village Chak Mishri Khan in Amritsar, as his accomplice. The duo retrieved the HG 84 hand grenade, made at the Pakistan Ordinance Factories, from an orchard near Majitha where it was buried for them, DGP Suresh Arora had said.

They also did a recce of the Nirankari Satsang Bhavan on November 13 morning when no one was present there, he had said.

During his interrogation, Bikramjit Singh revealed that while Avtar Singh Khalsa slipped into the Bhavan complex along with the devotees, he subdued the two 'sewadars' deployed at the gate. After hurling the grenade, the two fled on Bikramjit Singh's motorcycle to Khalsa's village, Arora said.

Happy had earlier come to notice of the police for supplying a hand grenade of the same Arges Type HG-84 specifications to Shabnamdeep Singh, the self-styled chief of Khalistan Gadar Force (KGF), who was arrested by Punjab Police in October, the DGP had said. Such grenades have been used in Jammu and Kashmir in the past, he had said.

Earlier in 2016-17, Happy had masterminded a conspiracy to target RSS and Shiv Sena leaders in Ludhiana and Jalandhar in collaboration with Pakistani establishment and its Inter-Services Intelligence, Amarinder Singh said. He said attempts by the ISI and the Pakistan establishment to forge linkages between Punjabi and Kashmiri terrorist groups is a matter of serious security concern for the state. He added the state police was working closely with central agencies to check the spread of such forces.

His government was committed to ensuring that nobody disturbs the state's hard-earned peace and harmony, the CM said.

Amarinder Singh said since March 2017, the state police have busted 17 terror modules and arrested 81 militants, preventing a large number of terrorist strikes. They have seized 77 weapons and explosives from these terrorists. These include 12 hand grenades, he said.