Petrol bomb hurled at liquor vend in Majitha

Hours after a petrol bomb was hurled at a liquor vend on the Fatehgarh Churian road in Majitha here on Tuesday night, US-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Passia, and his accomplice Jeeshan Akhtar on Wednesday claimed the responsibility on his alleged social media handle.

He said the incident was a continuation of the previous hand grenade blasts occurred in Punjab in the last four months.

Two unidentified motorcycle-borne persons lobbed a petrol bomb at the liquor vend belonged to Amandeep Jaintipuria.

Gurpreet Singh, manager of the liquor vend, told the police that at around 9 pm, two motorcycle-borne miscreants arrived near the tavern, lit the petrol bomb on fire and threw it at them. He said he along with other staff members immediately rushed out to save themselves while the suspects fled the scene while firing. During firing, a magazine of the pistol fell on the ground and they handed it over to the police.

Senior police officials reached the spot and carried out investigations.

On January 16, three persons had hurled a hand grenade at the residence of Congress leader Amandeep Kumar, son of late business and liquor trader Rajinder Kumar, alias Pappu Jaintipuria, at Kathunangal. As the family was in Batala, no one was injured in the attack.

Maninder Singh, SSP, Amritsar rural, said the probe was under way to identify the perpetrators. He said the facts were being verified.

On his social media handle, Passia alleged that the government was targeting drug consumers and small-time peddlers by demolishing their houses while big fishes in the trade, including those police officials who were earlier booked by the police under the similar charges, were left out.