Amritsar: Three persons were killed and 20 injured in a grenade attack on a religious congregation here on city outskirts on Sunday, an incident which the police are treating as a terrorist act.
The incident took place inside the Nirankari Bhavan at Adliwal village near Amritsar's Rajasansi, police said.
A religious congregation of the Nirankaris was being conducted inside the Bhavan at the time of the incident. The Sant Nirankari Mission is a spiritual organisation, and the Bhavan here lies close to the international airport.
The grenade was lobbed by two persons who had come on a bike and had their faces covered. The Director General of Police, Suresh Arora, who along with senior police officers rushed to the spot, said the incident appears to be a terrorist act.
He said that three people had died in the incident and 20 others were injured, two of them seriously.
Inspector General of Police S S Parmar, who visited the incident spot, told reporters that about 200 devotees including many women were inside at the time of the incident. No CCTV was installed at the premises, preliminary investigations found, he said.
After the incident, the Bhavan was sealed by the police and security was stepped up at other "Nirankari Bhavans" in the state.
Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh said the possibility of involvement of ISI-based Khalistani/Kashmiri terror groups could not be ruled out. Amarinder Singh said the state wouldn't let the "forces of terror" to destroy the hard-earned peace.
After the incident, the Chief Minister asked the Home Secretary, DG Police, DG Law and Order and DG Intelligence to immediately rush to Village Adliwal, Raja Sansi, to personally supervise the investigations into the grenade attack at Nirankari Bhawan.
The chief minister has also announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the kin of the dead and directed the district administration to provide the best possible medical care, free of cost, to the injured.
Earlier, the DGP said that the incident appears to be a terrorist act.
It (this incident) appears to be a terror angle. Because it is against a group (of people) and it is not against any individual. There is no reason to throw a hand grenade on a group of people so we will take it as a terrorist act. Till proven otherwise, prima facie we will take it like that, Suresh Arora said.