New Delhi: Pointing to a direct Pakistan link to the blast in January at Ambala’s Baldev Nagar police station, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a Special NIA Court in Panchkula that the IED was triggered using a Nokia phone manufactured and sold in Pakistan, ThePrint has learnt.
The agency made the allegation in its chargesheet, filed on 11 July.
The NIA has chargesheeted Brazil-based Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti, along with seven Indian nationals under relevant sections of UAPA, BNS, The Explosive Substances Act 1908 and The Telecommunication Act.
According to the agency, both the distributor and retailer of the Nokia phone in question were based in Pakistan. SIM cards used, however, were procured in India and sent across the border by drone, the agency alleged in the chargesheet, it is learnt.
A low-intensity blast was reported at Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala on the afternoon of 10 January. It was traced to a Maruti 800 parked on the premises. Shortly after, an Instagram handle with the username “khalistanarmy001” claimed responsibility for the blast.
Ambala district police, probing the incident, arrested one Karamjit Singh alias Tony on 13 January and the accused brothers, Akash and Soureb alias Sobi, on 15 January. One Jammu resident, Raman Kumar, was also arrested.
According to the NIA, which subsequently took over the probe, accused Karamjit Singh, allegedly linked to Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti, had obtained several SIM cards from an Airtel point-of-sale agent.
Two of these SIM cards were allegedly used in the Ambala attack, one to trigger the IED and another by a Pakistan-based handler to instruct accused Akash and Soureb on handling the explosive device.
“Pakistan linkage in initiation of the instant blast has been emerged out during investigation, as the SIM no. 9878055613 through which SMS has been sent to the SIM number 8264212077 which led to triggering of the IED was used in a NOKIA phone. On investigation it has been established that the NOKIA phone was manufactured in Pakistan itself and this issue also gets bolstered by the fact that the distributor and retailer of the aforementioned NOKIA Phone were of Pakistan itself,” the NIA alleged in its chargesheet, ThePrint has learnt.
Moreover, the agency also alleged that the IP address of the Instagram handle which claimed responsibility for the blast in the name of “Khalistan Liberation Army” was based in Pakistan, which the agency said “clearly establishes that this nefarious act is designed by the Pakistani gangster (Bhatti)”.
Bhatti’s unidentified associate linked to Ambala blast
Within hours of the blast on 10 January, a team of Haryana police and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) recovered three LPG cylinders, each weighing three kilograms, from the site of the explosion. The NIA has alleged that Bhatti had instructed associates to place the LPG cylinders in the Maruti 800 to magnify the intensity of the blast.
The NIA took over the probe on 28 January and found that the Maruti 800 was purchased from a car market in Punjab’s Muktsar Sahib district by accused Akash for Rs 60,000 just two days before the blast.
Further, the NIA alleged that, on Bhatti’s instructions, accused Raman Kumar paid Rs 30,000 to Akash and Rs 5,000 to Karmjit Singh, who eventually parked the vehicle at Baldev Nagar police station.
The NIA also alleged that Bhatti arranged the delivery of explosives through one of his operatives on the intervening night of 8 and 9 January near the Kot Ishe Khan area in Punjab’s Moga district.
The central agency conceded that the operative who placed the explosives in Moga, which were then recovered and used by Akash and Soureb, was yet to be identified.
“On 10.01.2026, Shahzad Bhatti directed the trio of Akash, Soureb and Karamjit Singh in Ambala to arrange three filled LPG cylinders for enhancing the impact of the explosion. Bhatti exercised control over assembling of the IED and continuously supervised the assembly and activation process through his unidentified associates,” the NIA alleged in its chargesheet, ThePrint has learnt.
The NIA also alleged that Bhatti’s unidentified associate “facilitated accused Akash and Soureb virtually by guiding them about the assembling and activation of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and integrating the SIM card provided by Karamjit Singh into the IED/Modem”.
Earlier this month, police and security agencies arrested more than 250 people suspected of being members of Bhatti’s network as part of a nationwide crackdown.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Between two Punjabs, via Portugal and Brazil: How Shehzad Bhatti’s ‘low-cost’ terror network works