INTELLIGENCE agencies have got strong inputs regarding the involvement of a Khalistan-supported group backed by Pakistan’s ISI in the planning and execution of the Ludhiana court blast.

A senior officer said that after the Red Fort incident, Intelligence agencies were on their toes in Punjab to keep a close watch on Khalistan forces trying to revive their movement.

The handlers based in Pakistan were giving instructions to their on ground workers to execute terror activities in Punjab. Many of such attempts were foiled in a joint operation with State Police, he added.

“We got specific inputs regarding local gangs have been hired and radicalised to revive Khalistan movement that was backed by Pakistan’s ISI. We shared these inputs with local police and an operation conducted across the State to prepare a list of criminals out on bail or absconding. The recoveries made in the last few months were just tip of an iceberg,” said a senior police officer.

Army cantonment in Pathankot in November was also a terror activity executed by local criminals. “This year around 42 drone sightings of unmanned aerial vehicles near Punjab were reported and many more remained unreported. The explosives and small arms were dropped using the drone from Pakistan side will be used to destabilise peace in the State,” said a senior officer.

In the last five months, Punjab Police has recovered seven tiffin bombs and more than 10 hand grenades from bordering towns.

In August this year, Punjab Police had arrested Gurmukh Singh, son of the nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and recovered a huge amount of explosives from his possession. In the investigation, it was found that he was getting logistic support from Pakistan’s ISI and by other Pakistan-based pro-Khalistan terrorist groups to carry out multiple terror attacks in Punjab in its ongoing efforts to revive militancy before State elections.

MAN KILLED IN BLAST WAS DISMISSED PUNJAB POLICE CONSTABLE: THE man killed in the Ludhiana districts court complex blast is learnt to have been identified as a dismissed Punjab Police head constable.

Gagandeep Singh was a resident of Khanna in Ludhiana and dismissed from the post of head constable in some drug case, said police sources.

Police had earlier said they suspect that the man killed in the blast was trying to assemble or plant the explosive device. Gagandeep's family in Khanna also learnt to have identified him, the sources said. He was dismissed from service in 2019, the police sources said. His mobile SIM card is believed to have helped identify him.

Punjab DIG, internal security warned about possible terror strike: A DAY after the Ludhiana court blast, IANS has accessed a letter written by the Director General of Police, Internal Security, Punjab, to the police and security agencies regarding a possible strike by Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists.

“The letter had indicated the possible target of the terrorists could be Defence, Central Armed Police Force, police establishments and courts,” sources said. This alert was sent on November 30 by the DIG internal security to the agencies and police department.

“According to a fresh input shared by a central agency, ISI has tasked Lashkar-e-Toiba to infiltrate five terrorists under the garb of Sikh individuals through Kartarpur Corridor into India after two weeks of commando training in Shakargarh (Pakistan) with directions to move to either Pathankot or Gurdaspur for further tasking,” read the input.

The letter has revealed the identity of two ultras as Mohd Gulzar Maghre and Mohd Sahjada Bande.

The letter had mentioned the planning of a grenade attack against the security forces camp in Jammu and Kashmir by an Islamic terrorist outfit, Muslim Janbaaz Force.

A highly placed source said quoting the letter that the police was advised to immediately take robust round-the-clock counter measures and suitable preventive and precautionary steps. “The agencies are asked to review the second line of defence along the India-Pakistan border in coordination with BSF, and constantly monitor the routes, gaps on the international border that have come to office, I.G.P. Ludadana Ranaticer having been used in earlier possible infiltrations by Pakistan-based terrorists,” the letter said.

The DIG Internal Security had suggested in the letter to ensure deployment of Special 24x7 armed ‘nakas’ on all roads, routes leading to the border area to cover any ingress from vulnerable and riverine gaps on the International Border.

Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Som Prakash visit District court premises: UNION Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Prakash, and others reached District Courts Complex, Ludhiana to take stock of the situation after the blast on December 23 that killed one and injured two others.