Amritsar blasts: 1.1 kg explosive, radical literature seized from 5 arrested; Punjab Police probing motive, foreign links

Accused were staying in Sarai located in Golden Temple complex, they assembled the explosives for creating crude bombs there

DGP thanked SGPC authorities for their cooperation and appreciated the SGPC task force for their excellent work for pinpointing the suspects. Tribune photo: Vishal Kumar

Tribune News Service

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, May 11

With the arrest of five persons, the Punjab police claim to have cracked the three low-intensity blasts near Golden Temple in the past five days.

First blast occurred near Saragari Sarai on Heritage street near Golden Temple on May 6 night while the second on May 8 morning. The third explosion took place at around 12.12 am last intervening night.

Those arrested were identified as Azad Veer Singh of Wadala Kalan village in Baba Bakala, Amrik Singh of Dubri village in Gurdaspur, Dharminder Singh and Harjeet Singh of 88 feet road and Sahib Singh, a resident of Gate Hakima area.

Azad Veer and Amrik Singh had assembled the explosives while Dharminder Singh, Harjeet Singh and Sahib were held for sourcing and providing explosives.

Sahib Singh was licensed holder of explosives used for manufacturing of firecrackers, said DGP Gaurav Yadav while briefing the media on Thursday.

The police have also apprehended a woman whose role was being looked into, he added.

The police have recovered 1.1kg of explosive material besides some radical literature from their possession.

Azadvir and Amrik Singh were putting up in the Guru Ram Dass Sarai located in the Golden Temple complex for the past several days. They had assembled the explosives for creating crude bombs.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh was directed to form a SIT to probe threadbare into these instances.

“We will expose their links in India and abroad,” he said. He added that the police will hold in-depth scientific investigations by taking help of forensic teams and other agencies after examining the devices.

“Azad Veer Sing went to the bathroom of the inn and threw the bomb on the Gallliara side behind the Sarai at around 12.12am. The police cordoned the area after information,” said DGP while adding that during probe and scanning of CCTV cameras inside the Guru Ram Dass Sarai led to the suspects. He said the accused confessed of earlier explosions at Heritage Street also.

The preliminary interrogation revealed that the accused assembled 200gm of explosives in a container then suspended the same in a polythene bag from a thread from roof top of Saragarhi parking on May 6 evening, which exploded at around 11.30pm. Azad Veer kept another bomb at the rooftop on May 8 around 4am and left the scene. It was connected with a thread, which was pulled by a passerby leading to the blast at the same spot at around 6.30am.

He said following their arrest, the police technically examined the CCTV cameras installed in the Guru Ram Dass Sarai. He said that the corroborated their locations at the time of these explosions. DGP thanked SGPC authorities for their cooperation and appreciated the SGPC task force for their excellent work for pinpointing the suspects.

Azad Veer was earlier booked by Chheharta police on charges of hurting religious sentiments Dharminder had a case of NDPS act while Sahib Singh was booked under explosives act. Amirk Singh has also a criminal case against him.

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