A youth allegedly involved in hurling a “grenade” at the house of a Jalandhar-based YouTuber was arrested from Yamunanagar in Haryana, the police said on Tuesday.
The suspect, Hardik Kamboj (18), was brought to Jalandhar and taken for weapon recovery. During that process, he opened fire on police and sustained a bullet injury as the team retaliated, officials said. He was admitted to the Jalandhar Civil Hospital for treatment.
The arrest was made by the Jalandhar (Rural) police and counter-intelligence teams and the suspect booked under the Explosives Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Earlier, the police had claimed that the reason behind the attack was some objectionable posts on Islam put up by YouTuber Navdeep Sandhu, alias Roger Sandhu, on his social media page. However, now the police suspects the ISI role in the attack.
Addressing a press conference, Jalandhar Range DIG Naveen Singla said, “The Jalandhar Rural police and CI teams arrested Hardik Kamboj (18) from Shadipur village in Yamunanagar of Haryana last evening. We seized a .32 bore pistol and six live rounds from him and also booked another person, Yashan Akhtar, in the case. He hails from Shankar village in Nakodar, but is now operating from abroad.”
Singla said, “They were working for Pakistan-based gangster Shehzad Bhatti, who has claimed responsibility for the attack on YouTuber. ”
The DIG said, “It is not possible for any ordinary person to procure and use a hand grenade. Hardik used an Austrian Arges hand grenade. These people also possibly have a hand in the murder of Baba Siddique.”
Four more arrests made
The Jalandhar Rural police arrested four more suspects following a late evening encounter at Chuharwali village of Adampur on Tuesday. Those arrested were identified as Amritpreet Singh, Dheeraj, Pandey and Lakshmi
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