Mohali blast: In 6 months, Punjab witnessed 3 similar attacks on security establishments

In another similar attack on March 9, 2022, the police post at Kalma Morh in Ropar on the Nurpur Bedi-Nangal road was attacked, damaging its side wall. No one was injured in all three attacks, which were followed by a low-intensity blast as reported on Monday evening in Mohali. Also attackers at Ropar, Pathankot and Nawanshahr, managed to come too close to the security establishments and then managed to escape.

One common thread in all three attacks was that the police found that the accused were not personally attached to the idea of Khalistan and many of them were even non-Sikhs. According to the police, the accused were lured with money and foreign dreams to carry out these attacks.

On Monday, the police claimed that a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) was used for the attack at the police intelligence headquarters. The in previous three attacks, the police had no immediate success in solving the cases and, so far, they have made no arrest in Monday’s attack.

Who were behind the attacks at Pathankot, Ropar & Nawanshahr?

On January 22, 2022, the Punjab Police claimed to have solved the cases pertaining to the attack at the CIA office in Nawanshahr and linked it to a Pakistan-based terror module allegedly run by Harvinder Singh alias Rinda.

The police arrested Manish Kumar alias Mani alias Baba, a resident of Bains village in Nawanshahr, Ramandeep Singh alias Jakhu of Atta village at Goraya in Jalandhar district, and Pardeep Singh alias Bhatti of Sahlon village in Nawanshahr. The officers had also claimed to have recovered a hand grenade from the accused.

According to the police, Ramandeep had confessed that he and Manish had thrown the hand-grenade at the Nawanshahr CIA office on the directions of Harvinder Singh alias Rinda. Before the attack, Ramandeep had allegedly received the consignment and picked up two hand grenades from the location on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur road as guided by Rinda. The police claimed that Rinda had lured Ramandeep with Rs 4 lakh to carry out the attack.

The police also alleged that Rinda was behind the attack on the police check post in Ropar. The gangster with links in Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Haryana is wanted in connection with crimes including murder, contract killing, robbery, extortion and snatching. Now he is allegedly linked with Khalistani operatives in Pakistan.

On March 24, police claimed that the accused in the Ropar blast had been identified as Kuldeep Kumar alias Sunny, Shabhkaran Singh alias Sajan, Rohia alias Ballu, Jitvesh Sethi and Amandeep Kumar. A tiffin bomb and its parts, an IED and a pen drive were recovered from Amandeep. He had hidden them in a forest. A foreign-made 9 mm pistol and 10 live cartridges were also recovered from the accused.

In the Pathankot blast outside the Army cantonment, the police had alleged the hand of Pakistan-based Khalistani militant Lakhbir Singh Rode’s group. In a press conference on January 11, the Punjab Police claimed that Rode had hired Amandeep alias Mantri of Lakhanpal village in Gurdaspur, Gurwinder Singh alias Gindi of Kharal village in Gurdaspur, Parminder Kumar alias Rohit alias Rohta of Kharal village in Gurdaspur, Rajinder Singh alias Malhi alias Nikku of Gunnupur village in Gurdaspur, Harpreet Singh alias Dholki of Gotpokar village in Gurdaspur and Raman Kumar of Ghazikot village in Gurdaspur to carry out the attack. The police had also claimed to have recovered six hand grenades (86 P), a pistol (9 mm) and a rifle (.30 bore) along with live bullets and magazines from their possession.