Mohali RPG attack: Three days on, leads yet to lead to culprits

Meanwhile, Mohali SSP Vivek Sheel Soni, when contacted on Thursday and asked if police still had any clues, said, “Wait for a day.” Questioned if police were hopeful of cracking the case, Soni added, “Umeed te duniya kaayam aa.”
Soni had on Wednesday told The Indian Express that police will share the details at “an appropriate time” to ensure that investigation is not “hampered”.

Another top officer of the police force believed to be involved in the investigation said, “I cannot comment anything. There are several officers working on the case.”

While several people were rounded up for questioning over the past few days, a breakthrough is yet to be realised.

“Heads should have rolled by now. First, there was no prior intelligence input. Second, there was no preparedness to thwart such an attack on such a strategic building. And thirdly, the attackers continue to be at large. The top officers of the force are even misleading the Chief Minister,” said a senior Punjab Police officer.

He added: “They are confusing people by claiming that they have leads. If there are leads, what stops them from arresting the attackers?”

Among those detained for questioning, it was learnt, were Jagroop Singh, a resident of a Tarn Taran village who was out on parole in a murder case and Sonu, a resident of Amritsar.

A third suspect, Nishan Singh from Tarn Taran’s Kulla village, was Wednesday arrested in a separate case by the Faridkot police and Mohali police was learnt to have been probing his role too in the blast.

Faridkot SSP Avneet Kaur Sidhu, when asked if Nishan Singh’s role was also being probed by Punjab police in Mohali blast case, said, “We are not aware about it. We are following the case registered here (in Faridkot) where another arrested accused named him during the interrogation”.

Nishan Singh was on Wednesday arrested by the Faridkot police in a case registered for offences of attempt to murder (307 IPC), Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Arms Act and under two other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

As per Faridkot police, one of the accused in the case Kuldeep Singh Keepa, during his interrogation, told police that out of the 22 pistols he smuggled from Madhya Pradesh and gave to “miscreants” in different cities of Punjab, “4 to 5 pistols were given to Nishan at a cost of Rs 28,000 per pistol”.

DGP Bhawra did not respond when called and texted for his comment.