— ISI-BACKED FOREIGN-BASED HANDLERS PROMISED REWARD OF ₹2L FOR CARRYING OUT THE ATTACK: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— ACCUSED AMANPREET SINGH HURLED GRENADE, WHILE GURTEJ SINGH RECORDED THE ACT ON HIS MOBILE PHONE
CHANDIGARH, April 5:
Continuing its swift action in the Chandigarh grenade attack case amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence wing of Punjab Police in joint operation with Chandigarh Police and with the assistance of Haryana Police has successfully arrested the two main perpetrators— who had lobbed hand grenade outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Sector 37, Chandigarh— from Rewari in Haryana, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurtej Singh and Amanpreet Singh, both residents of Rattangarh in Rupnagar. Accused Amanpreet Singh has a prior criminal record, with FIRs of theft and snatching registered against him in SAS Nagar and Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh respectively.
The development came a day after five accused— identified as Balwinder Lal alias Shami, Jasvir Singh alias Jassi, Charanjit Singh alias Channi, Rubal Chauhan and Mandeep alias Abhijot Sharma— involved in this case were arrested and one hand grenade along with one .30 bore Zigana pistol were recovered from their possession.
DGP Gaurav Yadav, while addressing the press conference here, said that with these latest arrests, all seven accused involved in the case are now in police custody. The DGP was accompanied by ADGP Counter Intelligence Amit Prasad, ADGP Internal Security SK Verma, IGP Intelligence Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, AIG SSOC SAS Nagar Deepak Pareek.
The DGP said that the arrested accused had been motivated and directed by ISI-backed foreign-based handlers Baljot Singh alias Jot in Portugal and Harjeet Singh Laadi in Germany, and were promised a monetary reward of Rs 2 lakhs for carrying out the attack.
Acting on the directions of their foreign-based handlers, the accused persons coordinated the delivery and execution of the attack, he said, while adding that accused persons used multiple cutouts and sub-modules to execute the attack.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that during preliminary questioning, accused Gurtej Singh disclosed that he had come in contact with a foreign-based handler approximately six months ago via social media platform. Acting on the handler’s instructions, Gurtej along with his co-accused Rubal Chauhan and Mandeep alias Abhijot Sharma, collected the consignment of arms and grenades from Jasvir alias Jassi at Village Bharapur in SBS Nagar on March 28, 2026, he said, while adding that, Gurtej subsequently took Amanpreet Singh along to carry out the attack.
The DGP said that on April 1, after conducting a recce, Amanpreet Singh hurled the grenade, while Gurtej Singh recorded the act on his mobile phone at the handler’s behest. Both accused thereafter fled the scene, he said.
DGP Gaurav Yadav thanked the DGsP of Chandigarh and Haryana, and appreciated the significant role played by Chandigarh Police and STF of Haryana Police in unraveling this entire conspiracy and nabbing the accused.
