Chandigarh, April 8 (IANS) Hours after a blast outside the residence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former minister Manoranjan Kalia’s house in Jalandhar, Punjab minister Mohinder Bhagat on Tuesday blamed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail, for “terror activities” in the state in connivance with Pakistan.
“We have just come back after enquiring about Manoranjan Kalia-ji’s health, we talked in a good atmosphere, the police is doing its job,” Bhagwat told the media in Jalandhar.
“But the truth is that Lawrence Bishnoi is getting such activities done in Punjab in connivance with Pakistan. And Lawrence Bishnoi is being given full security by the Central-led BJP government in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad.”
“It is not hidden from anyone what kind of relations Lawrence has with the Pakistanis,” he added.
Bishnoi, who has been in prison since 2015, is the prime accused in the sensational murder of Sidhu Moosewala, the popular Punjabi singer gunned down near his village in May 2022, and the Nationalist Congress Party politician Baba Siddique in Mumbai in October last year.
Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu also reached Jalandhar to inquire about the well-being of party senior leader Kalia.
“The law and order situation in Punjab is deteriorating rapidly, with alarming instances of selective targeting of a particular political party. We strongly condemn this cowardly attack and demand an independent, time-bound inquiry by central agencies to bring the culprits to justice,” he told the media.
Former Cabinet minister and former state unit president Kalia was unhurt in the blast. Police teams were deployed at Kalia’s residence soon after the incident. Forensic experts were collecting evidence from the spot.
In the CCTV footage, an individual, travelling on an e-rickshaw, was seen hurling an object and subsequently fleeing from the scene in the vehicle. According to the police, the explosive, suspected to be a grenade, was thrown in front of the gate of Kalia’s residence at around 1 am.
“There was a blast at around 1 am. I was sleeping and I thought that it was the sound of thunder. Later, I was informed that a blast had taken place. CCTVS are being examined and forensic experts are present here,” Kalia told the media.
Commissioner of Police, Dhanpreet Kaur, who reached the spot, told the media: “Around 1 a.m., we got information of a blast here. We reached the spot and started the investigation. The forensic team is investigating the matter… We are also monitoring the CCTVs. The forensic team is investigating whether it is a grenade attack or something else.”
Asked whether it was a hand grenade attack, she said the forensic team has collected samples from the spot.
“Whatever information we receive, we will share,” she said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Manpreet Singh said the forensic teams would study the evidence and submit a report.
Ten explosions have been reported outside police installations in the state, mainly in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts, from November 2024 to February 2025. Last month, a blast occurred outside a temple in Amritsar.
Meanwhile, Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force on Tuesday claimed to have arrested two key operatives of the Bishnoi-Rohit Godara gang. They are Jashan Sandhu and Gursewak Singh from Mohali.
Sandhu, wanted in a 2023 murder case in Rajasthan’s Ganganagar, had been evading arrest by constantly changing locations across Georgia, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai. After landing in Nepal from Dubai, he entered India by road in an attempt to escape law enforcement, DGP Gaurav Yadav wrote on X.
Preliminary investigations reveal that Sandhu played a crucial role in providing logistical support to the gang. His interrogation has led to the identification of overseas Hawala operators, travel agents, and the locations of fugitive gangsters hiding abroad, marking a significant step in dismantling these networks, he added.
–IANS
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