NIA team inspects Jeeda blast site

A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited Jeeda village in Bathinda on Saturday and started probe into the twin blasts that took place a couple of months ago.

The team is also learnt to have visited Haraj village in Muktsar in connection with the incident. Sources said the NIA team first inspected the house where the explosions occurred on September 10, reviewed the crime scene and then proceeded to Haraj in Muktsar to the residence of the victims’ relatives.

The central agency is now set to analyse all case files, forensic reports and digital evidence earlier collected by the Bathinda police.

The blasts had left Gurpreet Singh (19), a law student, and his father, Jagtar Singh, injured. Gurpreet’s right hand was amputated due to the impact of the first explosion, while his father sustained grievous injuries in the second blast. The incident came to light only after a private hospital alerted the police about the nature of the injuries the following day.

Initial investigations suggested that Gurpreet was allegedly self-radicalised through extremist online content and was experimenting with explosives after being influenced by radical ideologies. He was reportedly a keen follower of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and had even created a fake account to follow Masood and other extremists.