Chandigarh BJP office blast case: Two main perpetrators who received directions from handlers in Germany & Portugal held

In a significant breakthrough, Punjab Police has arrested two more perpetrators in connection with the recent blast outside the BJP headquarters in Chandigarh, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to seven, a senior police officer said on Sunday.

Earlier, police had arrested five other accused in the case—Mandeep, Rubal Chauhan, Charanjit Singh, Jasvir Singh and Balwinder.

According to police, the accused are believed to be part of an ISI-backed module and were receiving instructions from handlers based in Germany and Portugal, reported PTI.

Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said Gurtej Singh and Amanpreet Singh were arrested from Rewari in Haryana on the night of April 4 during a joint operation with the Haryana Police. Both the accused are residents of the Morinda area in Punjab’s Rupnagar district and were employed as bike operators with Rapido, Yadav said.

According to police, Gurtej Singh came into contact with Portugal-based Baljot Singh, alias Jot—the main handler of the module—around six months ago through social media. The consignment, which included two grenades, a pistol and 10 cartridges, was collected by Gurtej, Mandeep and Rubal Chauhan from Jasvir Singh, also known as Jassi, he said.

The DGP said Jot directed Gurtej to identify targets and carry out reconnaissance. Gurtej then brought Amanpreet into the plan, and the two—both working as Rapido bike operators, were allegedly promised ₹2 lakh each for executing the task.

Amanpreet allegedly hurled the grenade, while Gurtej recorded the act on video, the DGP added. He further said that their foreign handlers had shared online training videos on grenade use and provided instructions via mobile phones.

Yadav said police are now tracing the origin and supply chain of the consignment.

Earlier, five individuals, believed to be part of an ISI-backed module, were arrested in connection with the case.

Police initially suspected the explosion to have been caused by a crude bomb, but it was later confirmed to be a hand grenade, he added.

The Director General of Police on Saturday said that the Counter-Intelligence wing of Punjab Police, in coordination with Chandigarh Police, had cracked the Chandigarh grenade attack case. During the operation, police recovered one hand grenade, a .30 bore Zigana pistol and ammunition from the accused.

Preliminary investigations indicated that the module was supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and was being run by handlers based abroad, particularly in Portugal and Germany.

Assistant Inspector General of Police, State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), SAS Nagar, Deepak Pareek, said on Saturday that the consignment of grenades, weapons and live cartridges had passed through multiple hands before reaching the final perpetrators.

The accused have been booked under relevant provisions of the Arms Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the SSOC police station in SAS Nagar.

Within hours of the blast, a 10-second video emerged online showing one man pulling the pin of a grenade and hurling it, while another recorded the act. The footage did not reveal their faces, and the two fled the spot shortly before the explosion. The incident was also captured on CCTV cameras. On the same day, Sukhjinder Singh Babbar of the banned Babbar Khalsa International claimed responsibility for the blast in a social media post.

(With inputs from PTI)