Chandigarh:
Footage from CCTV cameras outside and inside the Jalandhar home of BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia captured how the accused in an e-rickshaw lobbed a grenade inside the former minister’s residence and the massive blast it led to.
The footage, from around 2 am today, shows two accused in an e-rickshaw driving by the minister’s home. One of them is seen lobbing something over the wall. Another camera inside the BJP leader’s home captures the grenade and the blast it causes. While no one was hurt, the BJP leader’s vehicles and windows of his home were damaged.
The former minister and former Punjab BJP chief was sleeping and was woken by a severe explosion. “The grenade attack was so severe that the partition in the house was severely damaged. The window glass of the kitchen was damaged. A bathroom door was damaged,” he said, according to a PTI report. Mr Kalia said he initially thought there was a blast in the electric transformer and later found out that it was a grenade blast.
Punjab police responded swiftly and arrested both accused within 12 hours of the incident. The e-rickshaw they used has also been seized. In a startling revelation, police found that the attack was masterminded by Zeeshan Akhtar, a close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and a wanted accused in the murder case of NCP leader Baba Siddiqui, according to sources. Sources in the police have also said Pakistan’s ISI has conspired to disrupt religious harmony in Punjab and that the attack against the BJP leader was planned across the border.
This is the latest in a series of blasts in Punjab that has prompted Opposition parties to target the Bhagwant Singh Mann government. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh sought the resignation of the Chief Minister. “The grenade attack on the residence of senior BJP leader and former minister Manoranjan Kalia is a chilling reminder of the complete collapse of law and order in Punjab under CM Bhagwant Mann’s regime,” he said.
Punjab minister Mohinder Bhagat earlier said people who “could not digest the all-round development of the state” were behind the attack.
Shortly after the blast at the BJP leader’s home, Babbar Khalsa International terrorist Happy Passia has claimed responsibility. This suggests that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang may be working with Khalistan terrorist outfits and the ISI, something security agencies have suspected for a while now.
Within a year, Punjab has witnessed as many as 12 blasts and Happy Passia’s name has cropped up in probes into the explosions. Along with him, gangster Jeevan Fauji is also suspected to be involved in the attacks, many of them targeting police establishments in Amritsar.
