Ludhiana blast: Terrorism, organised crime and drug mafia

New Delhi, Dec 25: The accused in the Ludhiana blast case had links with agencies abroad, Khalistans and drug mafia, the Punjab police said. Director General of Police, Siddharth Chattopadhyaya said that the police with the help of the central agencies had unravelled the blast incident within 24 hours. He said that when he had joined the police, terrorism was the only challenge, but now the drugs mafia, organised crime and terror have become a deadly cocktail and this blast is an example of that.

The suspect was identified as a Gagandeep Singh alias Gaggi. He was dismissed from service in 2019 for his alleged involvement in drug peddling. He was posted as the head constable at a police station in Khanna at the time of him being dismissed. The drug peddling case was investigated by the Ludhiana unit of the Special Task Force.

The former cop had spent 25 months in jail before getting bail on September 8. The hearing in the case was scheduled to be held on Friday, but the matter was adjourned to February 2022.

The investigators would now look into whether Gaggi was tasked by the ISI's Khalistan network in Germany to carry out this attack. Moreover Gaggi could have been roped in easily as he had a personal interest as his hearing in the drug case was coming on Friday. He also had a personal interest in carrying out the blast as he may have been looking to destroy documents relating to his case.

A report in the Hindustan Times says that the ISI had tasked Jaswinder Multani , a Germany based pro-Khalistan terrorist to carry out this blast. Multani has a strong network within India has been in the business of supplying arms and ammunition through his contacts in the ISI.

Punjab has been witnessing some violent incidents in the recent past. They include lynching, targeted killings of Hindus and bomb blasts. These incidents are being reported at a time when the Intelligence has over the many years warned about the Khalistan terrorists wanting to make a return to the state, which had once handled the problem exceptionally well and driven them out.

Meanwhile the National Security Guards have found that the explosives were very powerful. The agency also learnt that the bomb exploded accidentally when it was being assembled. Investigations found aluminium and plastic shrapnels in the body of the deceased and the nature of the explosives clearly indicated that had the explosion taken place as planned, it would have had a devastating effect.