Batala grenade scare: Man booked for placing bomb-like object for publicity stunt

After the discovery of a grenade-like object outside a liquor store at Batala in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district triggered panic on Saturday, the police booked a man for placing it as part of a publicity stunt seeking social media fame, officials said.

Panic gripped the Focal Point area after the object appearing to be a grenade was found on Saturday morning, prompting the authorities to call in a bomb disposal squad and cordon off the site, police said.

Batala SSP Qasim Mir said the police acted promptly after some social media handles claimed that a bomb-like object was found near Focal Point.

“The object looked like a dummy grenade. There were cracks on it,” the SSP said.

Bomb disposal experts were called in from Amritsar who safely removed the object, the officer said.

Police later booked Manu Agwan, who claimed responsibility for placing the object as a publicity stunt.

“He tried to pull off a stunt that went wrong,” the SSP said.