Recovery of explosives from Patiala techie points towards Khalistani module link
CHANDIGARH/PATIALA: With recovery of more explosive material from the house of techie Rajatvir Sigh Sodhi in Patiala on Friday, the Punjab Police are apprehending “strong chances” of his links with the Khalistani module busted in the state last month.
Even as the senior police officials at the police headquarters are tight-lipped over Sodhi’s suspected links with radicals, the recovery of material used in bombs belies his family’s claims that the youth, who was found dead at his house on Thursday, was under mental stress because of strained relationship with a girl. His father Harpreet Singh has been arrested and remanded in five-day police remand.
The police team on Thursday found Rajatvir’s body lying in pool of blood on the first floor of his house. He and his father were on police’s radar following information related to their illegal activities.
“Any terror link in the case can be established only after scrutiny of Sodhi’s Facebook account, laptop and mobile recovered from his room, which we have sent for forensic exami- nation. Nothing can be stated yet,” said Patiala DIG Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill.
A senior intelligence official stated that the motive behind Sodhi’s “great love” for explosives is not clear yet but his Facebook profile in which he is shown playing with sword and practising hitting kicks is confusing the probe.
“At the same time, in his room there were pictures of goddess Lakshmi and Sikh Gurus too. Their family members also do not have any doubtful history or past links with the radicals,” said a top intelligence functionary from Chandigarh.
Sources said a special team of bomb disposal squad of the Punjab Police, which was sent to Patiala to dispose of the bombs, has been given the task to compare the explosives recovered from Sodhi’s house with those used in the bomb blast at Maur in Bathinda district on January 31 ahead of the assembly polls. A cooker that did not explode was also recovered from the blast sight.
Meanwhile, the police recovered around dozen more bombs, including two live pipe bombs, bottles of sulphur, potassium, ethanol, urea, timers, remotecontrolled toy vehicles, utensils, wires, used mobile phones, a laptop, syringes and play station remotes from his room.
“It appears that Rajatvir exploded bombs with some pressure mechanism,” said a member of the bomb squad team.
Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) S Bhoopati said bank accounts of Rajatvir, his father and other family members were being checked.
The police also questioned Rajatvir’s mother Kiranjit Kaur who reportedly claimed that her son never allowed her and other family members to enter into his room.
“And whenever they asked him about his doings, he warned them of dire consequences if they tried to enter his room. Rajatvir not even allowed them to come near his room,” a police officer said.