Tarn Taran blast case: Four in NIA custody

Mohali: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday produced four accused of the accidental bomb explosion at Pandori Gola village of Tarn Taran at the NIA court in Mohali.

The NIA court handed over the police custody of the five accused, including Malkit Singh alias Shera, who is under treatment at a hospital in Amritsar as he lost his eyes during the accidental blast.

The other four are identified as Mandeep Singh alias Massa, Amritpal Singh, Chandeep Singh and Amarjit Singh. They are on police remand till October 23.

According to NIA sources, the accused have the support of Sikh For Justice organisation and are suspected of reviving terrorism in the state.

Sources in the NIA said during investigation Shera revealed that kingpin Bikram Singh Panjwar planned to attack Sukhbir Singh Badal during his Golden Temple visit in 2016.

Sources said Shera told investigators that Bikram had two bombs. While he kept one with himself, he gave the other to Shera to attack Sukhbir from the temple’s main entrance.

However, when Sukhbir arrived at the Golden Temple with heavy security, Bikram got scared and did not throw the bomb, Shera claimed.

The NIA had arrested the “main accused and the conspirator” Gurjant Singh, of an accidental blast that occurred in Punjab’s border Tarn Taran town last month, leaving him injured and two of his associates killed.

The agency said Gurjant Singh, a resident of Bachhre village in Tarn Taran, was arrested immediately after his release from a private hospital where he was admitted after receiving injuries in the explosion that took place at the outskirts of Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran town on September 4.

The NIA said two accused — Bikram Singh alias Bicky alias Bikkar Singh and Harpreet Singh alias Happy — died on the spot in the explosion while Gurjant and Shera sustained injuries while they were trying to dig out an explosive substance buried by them in a vacant plot on the outskirts of Pandori Gola village.

The case was earlier being probed by Punjab Police, which had filed an FIR on September 5 under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act.

After the NIA took over the investigation, sections 16, 18, 20 and 23 of the Act were also added.