The RPG fire at Mohali Police Headquarters, had tensed the situation. This is the first time that a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) was 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. As per the media reports, the Punjab Police has detained two persons in connection with the blast at Mohali Police HQ. They recovered a Russian rocket launcher used in the attack from a plot on the old Sohana road less than 1 km from the blast site. “All leads are being pursued. A number of suspects have been detained and being questioned,” the police said.
According to the report of The Tribune, Punjab Police has been 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.
Terming the incident “a big challenge”, DGP VK Bhawra said that TNT (trinitrotoluene) explosive was used. “We have got strong leads and hope to crack the case soon,” he said. An official said it was suspected that Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harwinder Singh, alias Rinda, was the mastermind.
“He is using his network of criminals for smuggling drugs and weapons into the state and carrying out attacks,” the official said. Sources said the police and Intelligence teams had fanned out in the region in pursuit of the accused. Officials said that attempts were being made to smuggle weapons from across the border using drones. The police recently recovered nearly 10 kg of RDX from various locations. Teams of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau, besides others inspected the site unofficially.
The sources said the accused seemed to have travelled to the site in a white car. A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) was fired from outside the street which reached the third floor of the building but didn’t explode, damaging only glass doors, window panes, some furniture and computers.
As the building doesn’t have any CCTV cameras, the police are trying to gather CCTV footage of the nearby area. The sources said one of the suspects was brought to Mohali from Ambala for questioning. The police sources has said that after the incident, the car-borne suspects took the Airport Road and fled towards Ambala after crossing the Dappar toll plaza.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has called a meeting of top brass of Punjab Police to get details of the blast. Mann, along with AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Party’s Rajya Sabha MPs Sandeep Pathak and Raghav Chadha have tweeted that while Punjab Police investigates the matter, the AAP government would not spare anyone who tries to disrupt peace in the state.
