Grenade Fired at Police Station in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, Second Attack in Last 7 Months
New Delhi: A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) was fired at a police station in Punjab's border district of Tarn Taran on Friday (December 9) night – the second such attack in the state in the last seven months.
Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav told the Tribune that the grenade was fired from the highway at 11.22 pm and it hit the Suvidha Centre of the Sarhali police station.
The projectile first struck the iron grills of the gate of the police station and then hit the wall of the Saanjh Kendra.
The sources told the newspaper that the actual target was Sarhali police station. However, after hitting the grills of the gate it diverted towards the Saanjh Kendra.
DGP Gaurav Yadav on Saturday, December 10, described the incident as a "strategy of the neighbouring nation to bleed India by a thousand cuts". He told the daily that the RPG was military-grade hardware which was suspected to have been smuggled from across the border.
According to news agency PTI, there were no injuries or casualties, but window panes and a portion of the wall of the building were damaged, said.
Peace in our border State is of utmost imp & CM @BhagwantMann shud focus on this & ensure Pb does not slip back into anarchy with breakdown of law & order. We need the foresight to see this threat & tackle it instead of politicising every issue & sweeping it under the carpet. pic.twitter.com/UBx5xR19qa
— Bikram Singh Majithia (@bsmajithia) December 10, 2022
A bomb disposal squad on Sunday, December 11, defused the RPG near Harike Pattan river, they said.
The grenade didn't explode. However, the daily reported, had the RPG exploded, it could have caused extensive losses.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the station house officer (SHO) of the Sarhali police station, who was present at the time of the attack, was shifted to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), the daily reported.
The SHO of Patti police station, Sukhbir Singh, replaced him, it added.
At least 20 sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector-rank officials were moved to various police stations for strengthening the security.
At least 10 people were present at the spot during the attack, the newspaper reported.
The police did not rule out the possibility of a terror attack, the daily said.
A first information report under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been registered in connection with the incident.
Police teams also raided premises linked to some suspects, including Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa, the newspaper reported.
Incidentally, the grenade attack comes a day after the mastermind behind the 2019 Tarn Taran bomb blast in Punjab, Bikramjit Singh, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in Delhi.
He was extradited from Vienna, PTI had reported.
Two people were killed and one injured in the 2019 explosion which took place on the outskirts of Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran.
Harpreet Singh, an accused in the 2021 Ludhiana court blast case, was arrested by the NIA on December 1.
An accomplice of Pakistan-based International Sikh Youth Federation chief Lakhbir Singh Rod, Singh had allegedly facilitated delivery of the improvised explosive device, which killed one person and injured several others.
In May this year, a rocket-propelled grenade had hit the Intelligence Wing headquarters of Punjab Police in Mohali, shattering windowpanes on one of the floors of the building.
(With inputs from PTI)
This article went live on December twelfth, two thousand twenty two, at forty-four minutes past twelve at noon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
