New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday conducted searches at two different locations in Punjab in the Ludhiana court bomb blast case that occured on December 23, 2021, in which one person died and six were injured. The places raided by the anti-terror agency included Mukhtiar Sahib and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab, said the NIA. During these searches, the NIA claimed to have seized Rs 10,16,000 cash, mobile phones, SIM cards and dairies with incriminating content.
The case was initially registered on December 23, 2021, by Punjab Police and re-registered by the NIA on January 13 last year. The case pertains to a bomb blast in the district court complex, Ludhiana that occured on December 23, 2021, in which one person died and six persons were injured. "Further investigations in the case are in progress," added the NIA.
Earlier, the NIA chargesheet had stated that Lakhbir Singh Rode, a Pakistan-based International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorist handler, had planned to execute Improvised Explosive Device blasts at various locations in Punjab including December 23, 2021, Ludhiana court complex blast case.
NIA chargesheet also states that Rode, in association with Pakistan-based smugglers, recruited India-based operatives to smuggle IEDs and to carry out blasts to cause maximum casualties and to strike terror among the general public in order to execute these plans.
In furtherance of the conspiracy to carry out IED blasts in Punjab, it further said, Rode, with the help of Zulfikar alias Pehalwan, a Pakistan based Cross-border Arms-Explosives-Narcotics smuggler, Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia, Surmukh Singh alias Sammu, Dilbagh Singh and Rajanpreet Singh, formed a terror gang to carry out blasts and smuggle weapons into India.
Rode used the smuggling channels of Pakistan-based smuggler Zulfikar and his associates - Surmukh Singh and Harpreet Singh to deliver the IED to Gagandeep Singh who planted it to cause the blast in Ludhiana Court Complex and lost his life in the process.
The NIA filed the chargesheet against five accused in the Ludhiana court complex blast case before a special NIA Court in Punjab's Mohali. The case was initially registered on December 23, 2021, at Division -5 Police Station in Ludhiana Commissionerate, Punjab and re-registered by the NIA on January 13 last year. (ANI)
