5-day remand for 2nd suspect in UT blast case

Vishal Masih, the second suspect in the Chandigarh blast case, was produced before the Duty Magistrate in a local court here today. The court remanded him in five-day police custody till September 20. He was arrested by the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) along with the central agencies from Delhi, the DGP wrote on X.

SSOC officials said Vishal and Rohan had been arrested in connection with the cross-border weapon smuggling case. Rohan was arrested from Amritsar on Friday. Besides Rohan and Vishal, the SSOC had earlier arrested Akashdeep Singh and Amarjit Singh of Hardorattan village located near the international border with Pakistan in Attari subdivision here.

“Within 72 hours of the Chandigarh blast, the Punjab Police, in coordination with Central agencies, arrested the second perpetrator of the blast. On September 11, two suspects had carried out the blast in Sector 10 at Chandigarh. The Punjab Police nabbed Rohan Masih on September 13,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav on X.

Following leads generated through various sources, Vishal of Raimal village, near Dhyanpur in Batala district of Gurdaspur, was arrested from Delhi, he said.

The investigations carried out so far indicate that Happy Pashia had promised around Rs 5 lakh to the duo for carrying out the blast. The duo had received meagre Rs 10,000 each as initial payment.

After the blast, Pashia did not respond to their repeated calls. Nowhere to go, they came to Amritsar and parted ways. Vishal first moved to Jammu and Kashmir and then to Delhi where he was arrested, said the police authorities.