Nearly 38 hours after a blast at the Jalalabad City police station in Fazilka district, Punjab Police on Monday confirmed that the explosion was caused by a hand grenade, and two persons have been arrested in connection with the attack, while police said three other suspects have been identified and efforts are underway to arrest them.
DIG, Punjab Police, Ferozepur Range, Snehdeep Sharma, and Fazilka SSP Gagan Ajit Singh addressed a press conference at 4 pm on Monday and shared details of the investigation and according to police, the incident took place around 2 am on the intervening night of September 12 and 13. The accused allegedly reached near the police station on foot and threw a hand grenade inside the premises before fleeing.
The explosion damaged the windows or windshields of two old vehicles parked inside the police station. The vehicles were in police custody, but no loss of life or injuries were reported in the incident, and police did not report major structural damage to the station.
Initially, police had not confirmed what caused the explosion.
Officers had said that a forensic examination would be required to establish the nature of the blast.
A forensic team examined the site and collected evidence and further technical investigation subsequently established that a hand grenade had been deliberately thrown at the police station.
Following the investigation, police arrested two suspects within about a day and they have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Hazara Ram Singh Wala, and Manpreet Singh, a resident of Ghubaya village in the Jalalabad subdivision.
Police said the two had allegedly been hired to carry out the attack.
During preliminary interrogation, investigators found that the accused were allegedly motivated by the promise of money, although police said they had not received any payment so far.
According to DIG Snehdeep Sharma, the police have identified the persons who allegedly supplied the grenade and the two more persons allegedly involved in the attack have also been identified and are expected to be arrested.
Police teams are conducting further searches as the investigation continues.
CCTV footage and other evidence are also being examined to establish the complete sequence of events and identify the wider network behind the attack and the police have alleged that Pakistani agencies were behind the attack, saying the objective was to disturb peace in Punjab.
The two arrested accused have been booked under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act.
The investigation is now focused on identifying everyone involved, tracing the source of the grenade and establishing who allegedly arranged the attack.
