New Delhi: The Punjab Police claim to have busted a terror module behind a botched attempt to damage a railway line near the Sambhu border with neighbouring Haryana and arrested four accused within 24 hours of the incident.
The botched sabotage of the freight corridor connecting Punjab with other parts of the country left a 2.5-foot crater at the scene, sparking concerns among officials about a security vacuum along the corridor in the state. According to the preliminary incident report prepared by the police, the incident took place around 8.23 pm Monday on the Rajpura-Shambhu railway track in the vicinity of Bathonian Khurd village in Patiala district.
Addressing a press conference, Patiala Range Deputy Inspector General Kuldeep Singh Chahal and Senior Superintendent of Police Varun Sharma identified the four suspects arrested as Pardeep Singh Khalsa, Kulwinder Singh alias Bagga, Satnam Singh alias Satta and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi, while identifying Pardeep as the mastermind.
“Pardeep Singh Khalsa was the main kingpin of the module as he was in close proximity with Malaysia-based pro-Khalistani terrorists as well as in close contact with Pakistan-based arms suppliers. He used to send radicalised youth to Malaysia to undergo terror training and then assign them the tasks of terror activities,” DIG Chahal said.
The senior officers also said that Pardeep formed a radical organisation called ‘Chalda Vaheer Chakarwarti, Attariye’. From their possession, the police have recovered a hand grenade, two pistols and sophisticated communication devices used in detonations as well as laptops used for communicating with Malaysia-based handlers.
According to preliminary findings of the Punjab Police, the explosion took place before the saboteur, one Jagroop Singh, could assemble the detonator properly. A Nihang Sikh from Panjwar Khurd village in Tarn Taran, Jagroop Singh had earlier been taken into preventive custody by the Punjab Police.
Based on the complaint of the station master, the Punjab Government Railway Police filed an FIR under Section 150 of the Railways Act, 1989, which deals with offences amounting to maliciously wrecking or attempting to wreck a train, and under the Explosives Act 1884. The Patiala district police have registered another case based on recoveries made, including under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Sources further said that the incident did not hamper the movement of freight trains, but the pattern and repetition of two such incidents in quick succession have sparked concerns about a security vacuum around the freight corridor in the state. The incident comes months after a similar incident that took place in the freight corridor at Sirhind railway station in Fatehgarh Sahib Road in the state.
Responding to the two similar incidents of attempted sabotage at the freight corridor, Special Director General (Railway) Shashi Prabha Dwivedi said the police made key breakthroughs in the Patiala case by identifying the suspect who was killed in the explosion, along with the route he took to reach Patiala.
“CCTV footage has caught him parking a bike in Amritsar, and the same motorbike has been seized. A ticket has also been recovered from the site showing his journey from Sirhind to Patiala,” Dwivedi said. The case in Sirhind remained unsolved because there were no technical inputs regarding the sabotage attempt, she added.
Dwivedi further highlighted security vacuums identified by police along the freight corridor, such as the absence of CCTV cameras which saboteurs have exploited in the last two cases. “We are looking to meet on the subject and will finalise some plans to fix these security gaps,” Dwivedi told reporters.
Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Varun Sharma said that the suspect behind the detonation attempt is believed to have died in the same explosion, which was of low intensity.
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‘Law & order cannot run on headlines and PR’
The latest incident drew sharp criticism from the Opposition.
Citing the incident in Patiala and an incident of firing late Monday evening in Batala, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring blamed the Mann-led government for being preoccupied with its own survival, leaving the state vulnerable to exploitation by saboteurs and criminals. “Sadly, the government’s priorities remain confined to its own survival rather than saving the life and property of the people of Punjab,” Warring wrote on X.
“Instead of keeping an eye on the criminals and saboteurs, the AAP government seems to be busy keeping an eye on its own MLAs for obvious reasons,” he added.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badal blamed intelligence failure. “It is clear that no preventive action was taken despite a specific threat being received days earlier. This comes after multiple blasts on police stations & posts, and even an RPG attack on the State Intelligence Headquarters,” Badal said.
Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa alleged that the incident in Patiala and the earlier one in Sirhind are part of a pattern and should not be seen as isolated incidents by the government and its law-and-order machinery.
“From damaged freight corridors to injured loco pilots, serious security lapses are staring us in the face. Yet the @BhagwantMann government remains in denial,” he said, adding, “Law & order cannot run on headlines and PR. Punjab deserves action not silence after every explosion.”
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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