‘Mysterious’ blast rocks Gurbaxnagar police post in Amritsar

Panic gripped the Gurbaxnagar area after a ‘mystery’ blast in the old building of the Gurbaxnagar police chowki (now shut down) here in the wee hours of Friday.

Residents got frightened when they heard the massive explosion sound. The incident came to light in the morning when senior police officials, including Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, reached the spot and started a probe. However, no loss of life or property reported in the incident.

“It was yet to be ascertained what caused the blast or whether it was a blast or something else,” said the Police Commissioner, adding that police officials were tasked to investigate the case threadbare.

There is a permanent police naka near the chowki since the day it, along with several other police chowkis, was shut down by then Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh in the city. The building is still in the possession of the police department. Two cops were present at the naka when the incident took place. The chowki falls under the limits of the Gate Hakima police station.

SHO, Gate Hakima, Manjit Kaur was on the night duty when she got information about the blast and rushed to the scene. She informed senior police officials about this.

Subhash Kapoor, a resident of the locality, said the blast occurred at around 3 am when people were fast asleep. They were roused from their slumber due to the deafening sound of the explosion, but they were so terrified due to this that nobody dared come out.

Satish Kumar, another resident, said they did not know whether the blast occurred inside the Gurbaxnagar police chowki building or a nearby park. He said police teams have sealed the area and carrying out investigations. He pointed out that the blast has left people in the locality scared.

“We are yet to find out whether it was actually a blast. Police teams are on the job and CCTV cameras in the area were being examined by the police to find clues,” said the Police Commissioner while adding that forensic teams would examine the scene to ascertain what type of explosion it was.

ADCP Vishaljit said, “We cannot state clearly at the moment whether it was a blast or not.”