Sangeet Som survives attack on residence

MEERUT : BJP lawmaker Sangeet Som survived an attack early Thursday on his residence in Meerut by unidentified miscreants who opened fire and hurled a grenade at the house, police said. Police recovered empty cartridges and an unpinned grenade from the spot and investigation was underway to identify the assailants.

MEERUT: BJP lawmaker Sangeet Som survived an attack early Thursday at his residence in Meerut by unidentified miscreants who opened fire and hurled a grenade at the house, police said. Police recovered empty cartridges and an unpinned grenade from the spot and investigation was underway to identify the assailants.

SSP Akhilesh Kumar and other police officers examined the spot and the bomb squad was called to examine the grenade.

“Investigation is being carried out from all possible angles to identify and arrest the assailants,” Kumar said. Som, who is an MLA from Sardhana and has Z category security, had returned to his Mall Road residence around 1 am on Thursday. The assailants who had allegedly followed the lawmaker in a car, opened fire barely few minutes after MLA entered the house. The driver also tried to barge into the house but the guard at the gate foiled his attempt. One of the attackers then hurled a grenade inside the house and escaped. The grenade did not explode and the bomb squad later took it in their possession for examination. A dog squad and forensic teams were also called as part of the investigation.

News agency ANI quoted Som as saying that he had received a call two years ago that he will be killed with a grenade. This is not the first time that Som, who is an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, has been attacked. A few years ago unidentified assailants had fired at his house in Sardhana town. He had allegedly received a threatening phone call from ISIS in December 2015 and the probe agencies later found it was made through Internet. He again received a threat call in December 2017.