Patiala, February 18
With the recovery of about 10 kg of ammonium nitrate (used in explosives) today, the Punjab police has claimed to have foiled attempts of a terrorist outfit to create disturbance in the state.
According to the police, the recovered ammonium nitrate was similar to that used in the recent Pune blast, and had been procured from that city.
The police claimed that the planting of the improvised explosive device (IED) in Nabha and Halwara were interlinked and were the handiwork of the same terrorist outfit. The police has not
divulged much information pertaining to the nature of the weapons recovered and the areas from where the explosives had been confiscated.
Patiala SSP Ranbir Singh Khattra told The Tribune, “During investigations, it has come to light that Jasbir Singh Jassa and Darshan Singh (both brothers), residents of village Manki, Malerkotla (Sangrur), are the owners of the Maruti-800 that was found containing the explosives near Air Force Station, Halwara, on January 25. Raids are on to nab them.”
He said they had evidence that both Jasbir and Darshan were in touch with Bakshish Singh, alias Baba, the alleged mastermind in the assault on the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
Senior police officials said the terrorist outfit behind the whole matter wanted to launch serial blasts in the state to impress certain terrorist groups in Pakistan.
“The financial transactions being made for the purchase of the explosives etc was all made through Hawala,” said a senior police official. The officials said Bakshish Singh has gone underground and all efforts were being made to arrest him.
Notably, from the past few days, the Punjab Police, Haryana Police, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police were conducting a joint operation to nab the accused who had planted IEDs.
Meanwhile, the Patiala SSP said Jasbir and Darshan had purchased the above mentioned car from Kuldip Singh and Bacchitar Singh by making a payment of Rs 40,000. “Kuldip and Bacchitar were arrested by the Patiala Police yesterday and during questioning, they confessed before the police that they had stolen the car from Rampura Phul, and later sold off the car to Jasbir and Darshan,” he said.
As many as three persons are learnt to have been holed up and the police is expected to arrest them tonight.
