New Delhi: The Central intelligence agencies have swung into action after the attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali and are collecting more information on this.
The Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), The National Investigation Agency (NIA), Military Intelligence, National Technical Research Organisation and the Intelligence Wing of the Border Security Force have also been gathering information in this case.
Sources in the Intel network said that the Central Intel wings consider it as an act of terror and the responsible group has tried to convey a message by attacking the police building, this could be a handiwork of the Pakistan supported Khalistani elements hiding in the neighbouring country.
They also said that the Punjab intelligence wing reportedly received two threatening letters from a commander of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad indicating a major attack on railway stations, bridges, places of worship and other major installations, and political leaders in the state.
A senior official in the intelligence grid said that the grenades were lobbed on the security forces earlier also, but using Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) to target police forces is more worrisome for the security forces.
The Intel sources also said that the arrested four Khalistani terrorists from Haryana’s Karnal on May 5 had admitted that the weapons and explosives were transported from Pakistan through drones. The RPG might have been carried out to Punjab from the neighbouring country, they added.
They also said that the Maoists are using improvised Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGL) to target the security forces’ camps in Chhattisgarh, therefore, the agencies are trying to ascertain whether the grenade launchers were procured from them or not.
The Intelligence wings are also scanning the links with the recent posters and graffiti by the Khalistani element on the Himachal Pradesh’s Vidhan Sabha boundary wall.
A high officer in the security grid said that though the Punjab Police have been investigating the blast case, but being a border state and the way Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has been pushing the pro- Khalistani elements to carry out major terror strikes in India, all agencies have been working hard to connect the dots of the conspiracy and to nail the perpetrators before they could execute some bad incidents in the country.
He, quoting the intelligence inputs, said that Pro-Khalistani Entities (PKEs) with the help of ISI have been continued with their efforts to smuggle in IEDs, arms, ammunition, explosive material into Punjab to carry out terrorist strikes in major cities of the country.