Back-to-back blasts near Amritsar’s Golden Temple posed a big challenge to Punjab Police but with the arrests of five persons, the puzzle in this connection has been decoded. The police have recovered 1.1 kg of explosive materials and some radical literature from the accused.
Those arrested have been identified as Azad Veer Singh of Wadala Kalan village in Baba Bakala, Amrik Singh of Dubri village in Gurdaspur, Dharminder Singh and Harjeet Singh of 88 feet road and Sahib Singh, a resident of Gate Hakima area. Azad Veer and Amrik Singh had assembled the explosives while Dharminder Singh, Harjeet Singh and Sahib were held for sourcing and providing explosives. Sahib Singh was a licence holder of explosives used for manufacturing firecrackers, said DGP Gaurav Yadav while briefing the media on Thursday.
The first blast occurred near Saragari Sarai on Heritage street near Golden Temple on May 6 night while the second on May 8 morning. The third low-intensity explosion took place at around 12.12 am last intervening night.
Azadvir and Amrik Singh had been putting up in the Guru Ram Dass Sarai located in the Golden Temple complex for the last several days. They had assembled the explosives for creating crude bombs.
Further, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh was directed to form an SIT to probe the entire situation.
“We will expose links in India and abroad of this particular “terrorist gang”, he said. He added that the police will hold in-depth scientific investigations by taking the help of forensic teams and other agencies after examining the devices.
“Azad Veer Singh went to the bathroom of the sarai and threw the bomb on the Gallliara side behind the Sarai at around 12.12 am. The police cordoned off the area after information,” said DGP while adding that after scanning of CCTV cameras inside the Guru Ram Dass Sarai, the suspects were arrested. He said the accused confessed to their involvement in earlier explosions at Heritage Street also.
The preliminary interrogation by police revealed that the accused had assembled 200 gms of explosives in a container and then suspended the same in a polythene bag from a thread from the rooftop of Saragarhi parking on May 6 evening, which exploded at around 11.30 pm. Azad Veer kept another bomb at the rooftop on May 8 around 4 am and left the scene. It was connected with a thread, which was pulled by a passerby leading to the blast at the same spot at around 6.30 am.
He said following their arrest, the police technically examined the CCTV cameras installed in the Guru Ram Dass Sarai. DGP thanked SGPC authorities for their cooperation and appreciated the SGPC Task Force for their excellent work in pinpointing the suspects.
Azad Veer was earlier booked by Chheharta Police on charges of hurting religious sentiments. Earlier, a case had been filed against Dharminder under the NDPS Act. On the other hand, Sahib Singh had been booked under the Explosives Act. Amrik Singh has also a criminal case pending against him.
