Quadricycles...

It was unveiled in 2012 but could not be launched as Bajaj’s rivals and industry bodies approached the Supreme Court citing safety concerns. The company has, however, been exporting the vehicles.

Following the government’s June notification amending Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, the Supreme Court approved the classification of quadricycles as a new vehicle category in India.

Bajaj Auto declined to comment on the developments.

Experts said the issue of safety needs to be kept in mind with such vehicles.

“In India, the range of vehicle types that are used on road are an inherent cause of lack of safety. Both speed and size variations in big and small cars increase chances of unsafe incidents on roads,” said professor D Raghuram, director of IIM Bangalore.

“People in smaller vehicles such as two wheelers tend to go squeeze in between larger vehicles to get ahead. From that perspective, it doesn’t seem like a very good idea to have such vehicles (quadricycles). Though in terms of fuel efficiency they may be cost effective,” he said.

The Qute is yet to be launched in India, but market analysts expect it to be priced between ₹2 lakh.

“The vehicle is made in India and hence, parts are easily available. The maintenance cost is comparable with a 3–wheeler. It is suitable for daily commuting,” according Bajaj Auto website on the vehicle. According to the manufacturer, the Qute will do 35km/litre in the petrol version and 43km/kg in the CNG version with a maximum speed of 70 kmph. ready for “an assignment” the next morning.

Both set off on Bikramjit’s motorcycle to retrieve the hand grenade from an orchard located at a distance of about 1 km on Majitha-hariyan link road.

“Happy mentioned the location about this grenade to Avtar through geo location and by sending pictures through social media. They retrieved grenade buried in a pit under a Shisham tree,” said Arora.

The hand grenade ‘HG 84’ is manufactured in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) (as the “84-P2A1”).

“HG 84 causes fragmentation after the explosion and releases pellets. Such grenades have been used in J&K in the past. A similar grenade was recovered from another module with the arrest of one Shabhnamdeep Singh, a Khalsa Liberation Force member arrested from Patiala last month,” said Singh.

Bikramjit also revealed during initial questioning that the two carried out a recce of Nirankari Bhawan on the morning of November 13.

During this, he added, the duo checked out the locations of CCTV cameras enroute, according to the police.

On the day of the attack, November 18, they waited for the crowd to gather, the police added. Both of them were armed with pistols at that time.

“After hurling the grenade, both of them fled on Bikramjit’s bike and reached Avtar’s village around 12 noon, where Avtar took back the Pistol from Bikram. After changing his clothes and appearance, Bikramjit drove back to his village on his motorcycle,” Arora said.