Grenade attack on BJP leader’s house in Jalandhar

An unidentified miscreant lobbed a grenade at the residence of former Punjab minister and national executive member of the BJP,  Manoranjan Kalia at around 1 am on Tuesday. The minister, however, escaped unhurt.

Police said that the grenade fell near his gate. Deputy Commissioner of Police Manpreet Singh has reached the spot and forensic examination teams too have been called in for investigation. Several BJP leaders have started converging at his house to know his well-being and express solidarity with him.

Due to the impact of the blast, a side door near the entrance of the house has got collapsed. CCTV footages have shown that the assailant came riding an e-rickshaw. He threw the grenade and fled off in the same vehicle. Kalia said, "I heard a blast, woke up and came out. At the first instance, I felt that there had been a blast in my generator set. It took me a minute or two to realise that a grenade could have fallen in the house."

He claimed that his gunman tried to alert the police at the police station on phone but no one attended the call. He then went to police station in person to tell them about it.

The police station falls few hundred metres from his house. About the footage he said, the e-rickshaw first came from Shastri Market side and crossed his house. "It then came back. A man alighted, looked all around and threw the grenade with his left hand and fled off,'' added Kalia.