Suspected IED found near Ghanian-Ke-Bangar police station

Panic gripped the Batala area after a suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found in the compound of Ghanian-Ke-Bangar police station here on Friday, a police officer said.

Senior police officers immediately reached the spot and initiated investigation into the matter.

The police station is nearly 14 km away from Batala city.

Incidentally, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is slated to visit Qadian on Sunday. The Batala police have made extensive security arrangements for his visit. Senior officers of the Batala police district were busy with his visit when news of the incident surfaced.

DIG (Border) Satinder Singh said the police were verifying the object. “For some reason it cannot be a hand-grenade,” he said.

“We have called in experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory and will give details once we have some clarity,” another police officer said.

An official disclosed that two Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) sympathisers-Gopi Nawashaharia and Harpreet Singh alias Happy Pashia-had taken responsibility of the incident.

According to sources, Gopi is involved in the murder of former BKI militant, Rattandeep Singh, and had fled to the US on a fake passport in May. He is believed to be hiding in California. Happy Pashia, a US-based gangster-turned-terrorist, is actively recruiting vulnerable youth from weaker sections in Amritsar’s Ramdass and Gurdaspur’s Dera Baba Nanak regions near the international border for criminal and terror operations. Pashia, wanted in over 15 cases of murder, attempted murder and extortion, has been linked to multiple criminal modules in Punjab.