Ludhiana Court Blast: Instructed from Germany, planned in jail ?
New Delhi, Dec 30: Following the recovery of seven mobile phones, the investigating agencies are probing if the Ludhiana bomber was getting instructions from inside a jail.
The police have sent the phones to the forensic laboratory for analysis. In the blast that took place at the Ludhiana Court complex on December 23, dismissed cop, Gagandeep Singh was killed and six others were injured.
Singh was dismissed from service in 2019 and had spent two years in the Ludhiana jail in connection with a drug related case. The phone seized by the police were used by Ranjit Singh and Sukhwinder Singh who were lodged with Gagandeep in the same jail. Gagandeep was out on bail in September.
Sources tell OneIndia that there were international calls too made from these numbers by Sukhwinder and Ranjit. The Indian Intelligence agencies had learnt that the plot to bomb the court complex was planned in Germany and Pakistan.
The CCTV footage shows that Gagandeep had used a bus to reach Ludhiana from Khanna on December 23, the day of the blast. Meanwhile the police have questioned both his wife and a girlfriend serving in the police force. The girlfriend was questioned as he was staying with her in a hotel before proceeding to Ludhiana.
Two days after the blast, the Intelligence assessment showed that Jaswinder SIngh Multani, a member of the banned radical Sikh group, Sikhs for Justice was behind the blast. He at the behest of a Babbar Khalsa terrorist from Pakistan conspired and carried out the attack. They were also in the process of undertaking more such attacks.
With the Intelligence on Multani being actionable in nature, the agencies coordinating with their German counterparts. The Narendra Modi government stepped up the pressure and used all diplomatic tools at its disposal to ensure that Multani was arrested.
The
arrest
of
Multani
clearly
shows
how
good
the
bilateral
relations
are
between
India
and
Germany.
While
the
diplomacy
and
quick
action
worked
with
Germany,
there
has
been
little
success
when
it
comes
to
the
UK
and
Canada
which
hosts
a
large
number
of
pro-Khalistan
activists
and
terrorists.
is
being
interrogated
by
the
agencies
in
Germany
after
his
name
cropped
up
in
the
blast.
He was arrested by the Federal Police from Erfurt in Central Germany following a request by the Indian agencies. On December 23 one person was killed and 6 others injured in a blast at a court in Ludhiana.
The Intelligence agencies had learnt that a Germany based Khalistan terrorist and another from the Babbar Khalsa in Pakistan had planned this attack after being tasked by the ISI.
The Babbar Khalsa terrorist who is currently in Pakistan has been identified as Harvinder Singh Sandhu, while the Khalistan supporter based in Germany is Jaswinder SIngh Multani.
Both had coordinated with each other and planned the attack. The attack was first of the many other acts of terror they had planned to destabilise Punjab, an Intelligence Bureau official told OneIndia.
Sandhu according to the IB official is also wanted in scores of cases that include cross border smuggling. Sandhu is wanted in 30 different cases that include murder, smuggling of arms and ammunition, drug peddling etc.
Siddharth Chattopadhyay, the state police chief said that the accused Gagandeep probably met with some people including Khalistani elements and drug smugglers while he was in jail. He had very good technical skills and the initial inquiry reveals that he had gone inside the washroom to assemble the bomb. We also have strong leads that the narco-terrorists and pro-Khalistani elements are behind this attack, he also said.