The pieces of jigsaw puzzle over the Amritsar grenade attack seems to be falling in place as the investigation agencies are looking for the common factors in the targeted killings of various prominent socio-religious leaders in Punjab during 2016-17, and the Sunday’s incident.

The preliminary investigations, pointing that the grenade used in Adliwala village’s Nirankari Bhawan was similar to one manufactured in Pakistan Ordinance Factory and also the one used during attack at Maqsudan police station in September this year, was enough to indicate that terrorism is once again trying to raise its head in Punjab with help from across the border.

Time and again, the intelligence agencies had warned about the “plans” to revive terrorism in Punjab with the backing of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to the pro-Khalistan leaders and organisations. And Sunday’s attack has further strengthened the fear that Khalistani supporters are becoming active in the state once again.

Three persons had lost their lives while 20 others suffered serious injuries in the grenade blast, for which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been roped in.

Initial investigation has pointed the needle of suspicion towards Khalistani supporters, and ISI. Acting on the same lines, the Punjab police on Tuesday raided students’ hostels, paying-guests (PGs), houses of hardliner leaders in Bathinda and Amritsar, and detaining several of them.

Probing the murders of eight RSS workers in Punjab in 2017, NIA had uncovered the plot to target religious organisations in the state. During the investigation, it was found that the killings were part of a major conspiracy, hatched by the senior leadership of the Khalistan Liberation Force, primarily aimed at destabilising Punjab’s law and order situation and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state — a theory which is being probed now also by the investigating agencies.

To further support the theory, the intelligence agencies had recently shared inputs regarding a meeting between a Khalistan supporter Gopal Singh Chawla and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.

It has been learnt that Chawla is using social media to gain supporters, and posting provocative posts from his personal handle.

In an apparent attempt to find a common link between both the incidents aimed at hitting the peace and security prevailing in the state, the police is suspecting Pak-based Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) leader Harmeet Singh ‘PhD’ alias Happy — the main suspect in planning the targeted killings — to be the main conspirator behind the grenade attack.

A senior police official told The Pioneer that it may also question Patiala-lad Shabnamdeep Singh alias Maninder Lahoria, it arrested recently on November 1 along with a hand grenade and a pistol.

Shabnamdeep had “confessed” to the police that he was asked by his Pakistani handlers to target the police posts and crowded places ahead festival season — similar to what happened in Adliwala on Sunday.

Letter pads of ‘Khalistan Gadar Force’ and other terror outfits, were also seized from his possession.

“We are finding lot of similarities between Amritsar grenade attack and what Lahoria had been asked to do...He told us that he was asked by his Pak-handlers to spread terror in Punjab during festive season by attacking with grenade on crowds,” the senior police official said.

During the questioning, Lahoria also revealed that the Punjabi youth are being targeted, primarily via social media, to lure them.

HARDLINERS, STUDENTS DETAINED

Punjab police on Tuesday raided the student hostels, and houses of Sikh hardliners, while detaining several of them for questioning in link with the Sunday’s grenade attack at Nirankari Bhawan.

As per available information, the police has arrested two students from a paying guest house in Bathinda after they failed to show their identification proofs.

The police has detained Dal Khalsa’s Gurjant Singh, while it has asked Sikh Youth of Punjab president Paramjit Singh Mand, Damdami Taksal’s Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal, among others were asked to appear before it.

On the other hand, the Sikh hardliner organisations have alleged the police of detaining its leaders and youngsters without any evidence. They demanded that the police and investigative agencies should probe this attack thoroughly without any prejudice or the foregone conclusion of seeing it only from the prism of Sikh-Nirankari clash of 1978.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said that we would support the police for questioning, but they should behave responsibly. “You can ask them to come to police station for questioning, but not raid their house during the wee hours,” he said.