Chandigarh: Grenade attack on the gates of Pathankot Army Cantonment was a terrorist attack conducted by Lakhbir Rode, chief of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) currently based in Pakistan. Gangsters Sukhmeetpal Singh alias Sukh Bhikhariwal and Sukhpreet Singh alias Sukh were also involved, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) VK Bhavra said on Monday.
Earlier, Nawanshahr Police have arrested six operatives of the Federation, who carried out the attack. The terrorist connection of the grenade attacks came to light only after the interrogation of the accused. Six hand grenades, 9mm pistol, .30 bore rifle, magazines and cartridges have been recovered from the arrested operatives.
DGP Bhavra said that there were two incidents of hand grenade throwing in Pathankot. The first took place near the Chakki Pull on November 11 at around 9.30 pm. This was followed by the second incident on November 21, when a grenade was thrown at the Triveni Gate of Pathankot Army Cantonment. Accordingly, two cases have been registered in the matter. Upon investigation, the six accused living in Punjab's Gurdaspur district were arrested.
Also read: 10 terrorists arrested in Pakistan's Punjab province
In which Lakhanpal village resident Amandeep alias Mantri, Gurvinder Singh alias Guindi and Parminder Kumar alias Rohit alias Rohta- both residents of Kharal village, Rajinder Singh alias Malli alias Nikku - resident of Gunnupur, Harpreet Singh alias Dholki resident of Gotpokar and Ghazikot resident Raman Kumar are included.
DGP Bhavra said that during initial interrogation, the accused said that the hand grenades, weapons and explosives recovered from them had come from across the border. They further said that it was sent by Lakhbir Rode. Rode asked them to attack the pre-set target, in which many places including police, army-related establishments and religious places were involved. Nawanshahr SSP Kanwardeep Kaur said that a case has been registered against these accused.
Police said that Lakhbir Rode's name has also cropped up in the murder of Comrade Balwinder Singh in Bhikhiwind on 16 October 2020. The police had recovered tiffin bombs, RDX and weapons etc from his relative Gurmukh Singh Rode in August 2021.
Sukh Bhikhariwal is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. He was also involved in the murder of a comrade. Apart from this, he was also involved in the case of Honey Mahajan of Dhariwal on 10 February 2020. He was deported from Dubai in December 2020. Bhikhariwal provides all the frills including weapons, funds along with the operatives to carry out such attacks.
