Chandigarh, Apr 8: Unidentified persons hurled a grenade at Punjab BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia’s Jalandhar home early Tuesday, shattering glass panes and damaging vehicles, police said, pinning the blame on an alleged conspiracy by the ISI and the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to create communal tension in the state.
No was injured in the blast. Kalia was at home near Shastri Market in Jalandhar when the explosion took place around 1 a.m.
Police later arrested two persons in connection with the incident and said it was the conspiracy of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to create communal tension in Punjab.
An e-rickshaw used in the crime has also been recovered, Special Director General of Police (law and order) Arpit Shukla told reporters here.
He said police cracked the case within 12 hours of the incident.
“It was a major conspiracy of Pakistan’s ISI. Zeeshan Akhtar, who is an associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and (Pakistani gangster) Shahzad Bhatti, they had hatched this conspiracy,” said Shukla.
He also did not rule out the possible links of the accused with Pakistan-based Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) mastermind Harwinder Singh alias Rinda and gangster Happy Passia.
An investigation into the possible links of BKI is also underway, he added.
A “loud sound” was heard around 1 am at the residence of Kalia near Shastri Market in Jalandhar, said police.
No one was hurt in the incident, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Manpreet Singh.
Punjab Police teams are conducting raids at different places.
Asked whether Zeeshan was the same person who was involved in the Bada Siddiqui murder case, Shukla said, “Yes, you are right.”
He also denied any intelligence failure.
Police said following the blast, teams from Jalandhar Commissionerate immediately rushed to the spot, and a forensic team collected samples and relevant evidence from the scene.
Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Jalandhar Dhanpreet Kaur said the case is being investigated in coordination with central intelligence agencies to trace the entire terror network and ensure strict action against all conspirators.
She said a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Explosive Substances Act at Police Station Division number 3 in Jalandhar.
However, police did not reveal the identity of the arrested accused and also said that they were in touch with central agencies in this case.
Kalia, a former Cabinet minister and former president of Punjab BJP, described the “grenade blast” as a failure of the state government.
He asserted that it is the primary responsibility of the state government and the police to maintain law and order.
“But the situation in Punjab has gone from bad to worse in the past three years,” Kalia alleged.
There have been many incidents of explosions, targeting police posts in Amritsar and Gurdaspur in the past four to five months but this is the first such case when the house of a prominent politician was targeted. Last month, a blast occurred outside a temple in Amritsar.
Opposition parties took on the AAP government alleging total collapse of the state’s law and order and asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who holds the home portfolio, to resign on moral grounds.
Punjab minister Mohinder Bhagat, who met Kalia at his residence, claimed miscreants, who “could not digest the all-round development of the state” and want to disrupt peace in the state, were behind this explosion.
The Punjab government will not allow disturbance of peace and harmony in the state, he asserted.
Speaking to reporters, Kalia, a member of the BJP’s national executive, said, “The grenade attack was so severe that the partition in the house was severely damaged. The window glass of the kitchen was damaged. A bathroom door was damaged.”
The blast left a small hole on the floor at the entrance of the house. Kalia’s SUV and a motorcycle parked in the courtyard were also damaged.
Kalia said he was sleeping when he heard the sound of the explosion.
He said he initially thought there was a blast in the electric transformer because of overloading.
His driver then told him it was a blast. Thereafter, he called the Commissioner of Police and assistant commissioner of police between 1:15 and 1:30 am but they did not pick up the phone.
Then he sent his gunman to the police station, Kalia said, adding that later a police team came.
He also said Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav called him up around 4 am, telling him that the commission of Police would visit his house. (PTI)
