Amritsar grenade attack on Nirankari gathering: Three killed, 21 injured. (File)Three days after three people were killed in a grenade attack on a Nirankari sect congregation in Amritsar, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said one of the two accused had been arrested, claiming that ISI-backed Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) was behind the “terror attack”.
Ruling out a communal angle in the incident, Singh said the two accused had been identified as Bikramjit Singh of Dhariwal village and Avtar Singh. “Bikramjit Singh has been arrested by CIA Amritsar. He has admitted to the crime,” Singh said. The CM said Avtar Singh, who is on the run, would soon be arrested.
Following the attack, police had registered a case against unidentified persons under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. The two men who had their faces covered — one had a beard — forced their way into the Nirankari Bhavan by waving a pistol on Sunday afternoon. They detained the sewadar, lobbed the grenade into the prayer room, and fled on a motorcycle.
The Punjab CM said the motorcycle used in the crime had also been recovered. Avtar Singh was riding pillion and has been identified as the one who lobbed the grenade, Singh said.
Singh, who has been maintaining that the attack might be the handiwork of ISI-backed Khalistani/ Kashmiri terror groups, said the pellets recovered from the crime spot were generally manufactured in Pakistan Ordinance Factory. “These kinds of pellets are manufactured in Pakistan Ordinance Factory. Pakistan ISI is resorting to all such things,” he charged.
The Nirankari Bhavan, on a narrow link road connecting Adliwala and Rajasansi, is just 2 km away from the Amritsar international airport. About 200 people, including many women, were reported to be inside at the time of the attack.
