Amidst the ongoing drive against anti-social elements launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police on Thursday cracked the Heritage Blast Street’s blasts case with the arrest of five persons including two main perpetrators, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav. Three low-intensity blasts— starting from May 6, took place at the Heritage Street near Golden Temple in Amritsar in a span of six days.
Those arrested have been identified as Azad Bir Singh (36) of village Wadala Kalan in Baba Bakala, Amrik Singh of Gurdaspur, Saheb Singh of Gate Hakima Angarh, Dharminder and Harjeet, both resident of 88 foot road in Amritsar. The Police teams have also recovered 1.1-Kg mixture of chlorates and bromides (material used to make crackers) and mobile phones from their possession.
DGP Gaurav Yadav, while addressing a press conference in Amritsar, said that the Amritsar Commissionerate Police and Counter Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police have successfully solved the case after carrying out meticulous scientific and technical investigation. He also thanked Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for their all the support and cooperation in tracing out this case.
He said that, while examining the CCTV footage of third blast, which took place at Guru Ramdas Sarai at around 12.15am on Thursday, accused Azad Bir Singh was seen going to the bathroom of the Sarai and throwing the crude bomb in the park behind it, after which the police cordoned off the area. Amrik was also seen following the accused Azad Bir, he said.
The DGP said that Police teams along with SGPC Task Force, acting swiftly, had been able to arrest both the accused persons, who have taken the responsibility of all the three blasts. Investigations found that accused persons had used containers including Energy drink cans and tiffin packed in polythene bags to carry out blasts using a thick thread hanging, which triggered the blasts while hitting the ground.
DGP Gaurav Yadav, while not ruling out links of arrested persons with Pak-based agencies or Pro-Khalistani elements, said that prima facie it seems that main perpetrators in this case were individually radicalised. “Police teams have been investigating the case from all angles,” he said.
He said both the accused persons revealed that together they bought the material for making firecrackers from accused persons Harjit Singh and Saheb Singh via accused Dharmendra, and took a trial by putting stones in it, in which they were successful. Trio accused persons have been arrested by the Police for supplying the explosive material, he said.
Meanwhile, a case FIR No. 49/2023 dated 11.05.2023 has been registered under sections 9B of the Explosive Act, sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, sections 13, 16, 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station E-Division, Amritsar City.