Rocket-propelled grenade hits Sarhali Police Station in Tarn Taran, Punjab
Tarn Taran (AMRITSAR): A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a police station in Sarhali in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district in the wee hours of the morning at around 1 am on Saturday.
No loss of life was reported and the building got minorly damaged, as the rocket rebounded after hitting the outer pillar of the police station. The attack has rung alarm bells in Punjab.
According to sources, the rocket was powerful but could not damage the station as it rebounded. Sarhali is an hour’s drive from Amritsar and Tarn Taran is a border district of Punjab. DGP Punjab Gaurav Yadav and forensic teams suspected the attack to be carried out by Khalistan-backed terrorists under the patronage of the Pakistani intelligence unit, ISI.
The strike was presumably a response by the ISI to the death of Harvinder Singh Rinda to preserve his terror links in the region. Harvinder Singh Rinda, a gangster-turned-Khalistani terrorist, was reportedly shot in Pakistan. Harwinder belonged to Sarhali village. Significantly gangster group Davinder Bambiha claimed responsibility for his murder.
In May this year, Rinda was named as the mastermind of the RPG attack on the Punjab Police intelligence office in Mohali. Rinda was involved in various terror cases and was a member of the banned Khalistani outfit Babbar Khalsa International. However, sources in the state police claimed that Rinda was admitted to a hospital in Lahore, Pakistan for a fortnight and died there, due to kidney failure.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accusing the party of spreading anarchy in Punjab. “Like the Gandhi family, Kejriwal also wants to usurp the country’s power by spreading anarchy in Punjab. A terrorist attack on Tarn Taran police station is proof of the failure of the AAP’s state security. Being a puppet CM of Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann ji is putting the security of the whole country at risk,” wrote the BJP leader.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, while speaking to a TV channel, said an order was issued to the DGP for a thorough probe and investigation is already going on, adding, it was too early to comment on the matter. He blamed former CM Sukhbir Badal as responsible for the “Gangster Raj” (gangster rule) in Punjab. The Badals and the Congress party shielded gangsters in the state, the Punjab CM alleged. He urged Home Minister Amit Shah to release more funds for the upgradation of the Punjab police.
Rashmi Talwar, an Independent writer, can be emailed at: [email protected]
