Chandigarh: Police have detained two youths in connection with the grenade attack at the intelligence wing of Punjab Police at Mohali. Police are yet to find the assailants in the scanning of the CCTV footage. The grenade could have been hurled from 100 metre, said an official.
Officials of NIA, IB and other security agencies visited the spot informally. This is first time an RPG was used in attack on a state police office, said counter-terrorism expert officials. The intelligence office is open but the entry restricted for staff.
Officials privy to the investigation said, “It seems the accused were hired for the job by people operating from abroad,” said an official. Police are probing the role of gangster-turned-terrorist Harwinder Singh alias Rinda in the blast.
Rinda, said to be in Pakistan, is wanted in Nawanshahr police CIA office blast besides the Ferozepur-to-Telangana arms smuggling case. “What is worrying is that the assailants have dared to attack the intelligence HQ this time. It is disturbing that the terror groups are recruiting youths easily by offering money to carry out such a work,” said an official.
According to an earlier report, investigating agencies suspected that there were two persons involved in the attack. Highly placed official sources told The Tribune that the investigation teams suspect that the duo came in a white Dzire car. “Their target was clearly to damage the building. But it seems the grenade hit a wall, thus reducing its impact,” said a senior intelligence officer.
He said that even the officers posted in the building initially thought it to be an LPG cylinder blast. This is the first time that a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) has been used in Punjab. It requires trained persons to operate the RPG. The investigating team suspects that the RPG has most likely reached the state from neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.