Punjab cops suspect Babbar Khalsa International link to Amritsar blast that killed 1

According to prelim probe, the person was injured while recovering explosive material from an abandoned place, which triggered the blast. The individual died later in the hospital.

Police personnel at the explosion site near Naushera village in Amritsar Rural | ANI

New Delhi: The individual killed in the blast in Amritsar’s Majitha area is suspected to be linked to terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International, Punjab Police have found in the preliminary investigation.

The person was severely injured while recovering explosive material from an abandoned place near a pole, which triggered the blast, and later succumbed to the injuries in hospital, Border Range Deputy Inspector General Satinder Singh told reporters Tuesday.

An explosion was heard by locals between 9.30 am and 10 am Tuesday morning in the area near Naushera village, which falls under Kambo police station of Amritsar rural district.

“Prima facie, it appears that the person who got injured in the morning and died was a terror suspect. Investigation into all the cases regarding blasts in the past had established that these suspects would keep the explosives or grenades in similar abandoned places. They would share pictures and instructions for retrieval,” the DIG told media persons at the spot.

“The explosive was kept near a pole here for a marker. It appears that the person was a terror suspect belonging to Babbar Khalsa International, and the explosive exploded in the hands of the suspect. The FSL (forensic science laboratory) report will confirm if it was a grenade or an IED (improvised explosive device), but a similar module of retrieval of explosives has come out in 100 percent of similar cases,” the DIG said.

The materials recovered from the pocket of the deceased, and other circumstantial evidence strongly indicated that the person belonged to the terror outfit, he added.

The accused was later identified as one Nitin (26), a three-wheeler driver from the Chheharta area of Amritsar. Amritsar Rural Police has registered a case under sections 3,4 of the Explosives Substances Act and Section 113 (terrorist act) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, at the Kamboh police station to probe the source of explosives and role of the deceased suspect.

Banned as a terrorist outfit by the Ministry of Home Affairs, BKI is controlled by Pakistan-based terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu, alias Rinda.

ThePrint had previously reported that modules of BKI, run by US-based gangster Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Passia, attacked several police installations and premises of influential individuals in border districts, starting November last year. These operatives passed on consignments to members of the module without any human contact with each other.

Passia was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in April. Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav had said last week that another gangster based abroad, Manu Agwan, had assumed “operational charge” of the BKI after Passia’s arrest.

(Edited by Mannat Chugh)