Chandigarh: The Punjab Police on Monday said that four arrests have been made in connection with the grenade attack at a police station in the Gurdaspur district. The police also recovered a P-86 hand grenade and two pistols from their possession.
The arrested have been identified as Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Hoshiarpur; Gurdit, a resident of Gurdaspur; Naveen Chaudhary and Kush, both residents of Talwara in Hoshiarpur, police added.
A grenade attack occurred outside the city police station in Gurdaspur on November 25.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Border Range) Sandeep Goel said that preliminary investigations revealed that the grenade attack at the Gurdaspur police station was masterminded by Pakistan-based ISI-sponsored gangster Shahzad Bhatti and his associate Zeeshan Akhtar, with assistance from their US-based handler Amandeep Singh alias Aman Pannu from Gurdaspur.
He said the probe also revealed that Aman Pannu used to recruit foot soldiers to execute terror attacks in the border state at the direction of Shahzad Bhatti and Zeeshan Akhtar.
Sharing operation details, the DIG said that in an intelligence-led operation, police teams arrested two suspects identified as Pradeep and Gurdit, who provided financial and logistics support to the accused, Hargun, Vikas and Mohan, who had hurled the grenade.
Hargun and Vikas were arrested by the Delhi Police.
The DIG further informed that during the interrogation, Pradeep and Gurdit revealed the role of Naveen Chaudhary and Kush, who received two hand grenades sent by Zeeshan Akhtar, of which they handed over one to the module that hurled the grenade at Gurdaspur Police Station on the directions of Shahzad Bhatti.
Preliminary investigation also revealed that the duo were planning another grenade attack to create terror and disturb the peace and harmony of the state, the DIG said, adding that with the recovery of a hand grenade, the attack has been averted.
Sharing more details, Senior Superintendent of Police Gurdaspur Aditya said that following technical and intelligence leads, police teams managed to locate suspects Naveen Chaudhary and Kush near the Jagatpur village.
When stopped at a police checkpoint at village Jagatpur, both suspects opened fire on the police party, he said, adding that in self-defence, police teams retaliated, resulting in injuries to Naveen and Kush.
Both the accused were immediately shifted to the local hospital for medical care and are currently under treatment, he added.