Pakistan's ISI behind grenade attack in Amritsar: Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said that the grenade attack at a Nirankari congregation in Amritsar last week is a case of terrorism and had no communal angle attached to it. 

"There is no communal angle. It's a pure case of terrorism. They were targeted as they were easy targets. We had information in the past about other organisations being targeted but we took precautionary measures and prevented that," the Punjab CM said.

Giving details of the probe, he said that one accused has been arrested. "I'm happy to announce that police nabbed one of the two persons involved. 26-year-old Bikramjit Singh has been arrested. The other man will also be arrested soon. His name is Avtar Singh," the Punjab CM added.

"This is the type of grenade which has been taken from other modules. This one is made under license by Pakistan licensed factory and is filled with pellets," Singh said.

He also suspected that Pakistan's ISI may be behind the grenade attack on the religious congregation in Amritsar.

''The person who is the mastermind is the Inter-Services Intelligence. These (Harmeet Singh ‘PhD’ alias Happy) are only touts which they were using,'' Singh said. 

The person who is the mastermind is Inter-Services Intelligence. These (Harmeet Singh ‘PhD’ alias Happy) are only touts which they were using: Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh #Amritsar blast at Nirankari Mission congregation that claimed 3 lives pic.twitter.com/cFVPDF8HOm — ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2018

"Prima facie, this appears to be an act of terror by separatist forces, organised with the involvement of ISI-backed Khalistani or Kashmiri terrorist groups," Singh had earlier said. 

The Punjab Police has found striking similarities between the modus operandi of the perpetrators of the grenade attack and the one allegedly planned by an ISI-backed terror module busted in Patiala early this month.

The police had nabbed Shabnamdeep Singh alias Maninder Lahoria on November 1, who "confessed" to the police that he was asked by his Pakistani handlers to target police posts and crowded places during festivals.

Besides a motorcycle, Lahoria was found in possession of a pistol and a hand grenade - the weapons used by the two perpetrators of the Sunday grenade attack, in which two motorcycle-borne assailants had barged into the Amritsar Nirankari Bhawan, brandishing a pistol and lobbed a grenade at devotees, pointed out police officials.

Lahoria was also found having letter pads of "Khalistan Gadar Force" and other terror outfits, said police officials, probing the Amritsar grenade attack.

Three people including a preacher were killed and over 20 injured when two-motorcycle borne men threw a grenade on a religious congregation on the outskirts of Amritsar on Sunday, an incident which police are treating as a 'terrorist act'. The incident had taken place inside the Nirankari Bhawan's prayer hall at Adliwal village near Amritsar's Rajasansi.