— ARRESTED ACCUSED WERE ACTING ON DIRECTIONS OF FOREIGN-BASED MASTERMINDS GOPI NAWASHEHRIA AND JASSI KULAM: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— WITH THESE LATEST ARRESTS, WHOLE MODULE HAS BEEN BUSTED; TOTAL ARRESTS REACH EIGHT
CHANDIGARH, February 22:
In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Jalandhar, in a joint operation with CI SAS Nagar, has apprehended two key perpetrators involved in the RDX-based Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast at Nalagarh Police Station in Himachal Pradesh, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
Those arrested have been identified as Mahavir alias Kaka and Manpreet alias Mani, both residents of SBS Nagar. During the operation, one 9MM Glock pistol along with four live cartridges was recovered from their possession.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were acting on the directions of foreign-based masterminds Gopi Nawashehria, Jassi Kulam and Shushant Chopra associated with banned terrorist outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
He said that the arrested accused, along with their accomplices, had procured consignments containing RDX-based IEDs and hand grenades on the instructions of their foreign handlers. From these consignments, an IED (RDX) was used by arrested duo to carry out the blast at Nalagarh Police Station in Himachal Pradesh on January 1, 2026.
The DGP said that six of their accomplices had already been arrested by Punjab Police, who were picking and further dropping terrorist hardware. With the arrest of these two, the whole module has been busted, he added.
In this regard, a case under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Arms Act had been registered at police station State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), Mohali.
