CM promises strict action; Oppn asks him to ‘set priorities’

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said that some people were arrested in connection with the explosion at the headquarters of Punjab Police’s intelligence wing in Mohali a day ago, even as the state police said at least 10 people were detained and no arrests were made.

Mann, who met director general of police (DGP) VK Bhawra and top officials of the intelligence wing, said the strictest punishment will be given to the guilty and warned that people trying to disturb peace will not be spared.

“I held a meeting with the DGP and officers of the intelligence wing in the wake of the incident. The details are coming out. Some arrests have been made,” he said.

The explosion, believed to be the result of a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack, took place in Mohali at 7.45pm on Monday. Though no one was injured, the blast in room number 41 on the third floor of the headquarters – that houses the intelligence wing, the special task force against drugs, the anti-gangster task force and several other wings of state police –.shattered the windows of the building.

No one was injured in the explosion.

“I want to say that whosoever tries to spoil the atmosphere of Punjab will not be spared and they will get the strictest punishment which their coming generations will remember,” said Mann.

At least 10 people were detained but no arrests have been made so far, DGP Bhawra said. “But we have got fee vital leads and we are hopeful of cracking the case soon,” he said.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, while extending full support and cooperation to the Punjab government, asked Mann to set his priorities right and focus on serious challenges confronting the state. “Inexperience and misplaced priorities of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government are being exploited by terrorists who seem to be raising their head in Punjab”, he said.

Warring said the onus was on the government to prevent such attacks and also identify and punish the culprits.

Describing the deteriorating law and order situation as “alarming”, leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, asked the chief minister to convene an all-party meeting on this issue .

BJP state general secretary Subhash Sharma called for coordinated efforts to defeat enemies of the nation, hoping that the AAP government will get down to face the serious terror challenges and focus its priorities from political vendetta to serious governance. “Mohali terror attack should come as a warning that you cannot take security of the state lightly and use your police to settle scores with your political opponents”, he said in a statement, referring to the turf war between the police forces of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi last week over the detention of BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga.