Son Shoots Himself, Father Arrested
M4PNews|Patiala
Patiala police on Thursday claimed to have busted a pressure cooker bomb making unit in Darshan Nagar locality , allegedly being set up by a former secretary of the market committee and his engineer son.While the police have arrested Harpreet Singh, his son Rajatvir Singh shot himself dead after he managed to escape from the police near Falauli village late on Wednesday night. His body was recovered from the first floor of their house in the morning. With the possibility of a similar bomb having been used in the Maur blast on January 30, and the unit being part of a bigger terror module has not yet been ruled out, cops claimed they were investigating all possible angles in the incident.
According to police, Rajat vir, who completed his engineering in computer science last year, and his father, who retired as the secretary of Patiala market committee in April this year, were found to be making pressure cooker bombs on the first floor of their twostoreyed house in the Darshan Nagar locality near Sirhind Bypass.
Cops said the two had succeeded in making a few pressure cooker bombs and even carried out controlled blasts at an open secluded place near Punjabi University campus a few days ago. Patiala range deputy inspector general (DIG) Sukhchain Singh Gill said they had received information that the two were in possession of supplies used for making bombs.
He said a special team was constituted, which started tracking their movement about two days ago, and on Wednesday night, Harpreet and Rajatvir were spotted travelling towards Rajpura in two cars. “Harpreet was driving a Maruti Suzuki Ritz and Rajatvir was travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio. They were intercepted near Falauli where Harpreet was nabbed and Rajatvir managed to escape by hitting constable Balwinder Singh with his car who sustained injury in his leg,“ DIG Gill said.
The DIG said the team later got to know that Rajatvir was hiding in another house, which was also owned by his father in Darshan Nagar. He said, “As the police team reached the house in the morning, Rajatvir was found dead with a gunshot fired from under his chin, suggesting that he had committed suicide. The police recovered a country-made pistol from near his body .“
Police recovered supplies used in making pressure cooker and pipe bombs from the vehicles being driven by the two. “Besides the country-made pistol, the cops also found four licensed weapons that were in name of Rajatvir, including a .32 bore pistol, a .12 bore gun, two .12 bore short barrel guns, a huge cache of .12 bore, and .315 bore cartridges from the house,“ said the DIG.
A team of forensic experts and bomb disposal squad was rushed to the house where Rajatvir had reportedly shot himself dead. The cops did not move his body till the bomb squad gave a clearance, as he was carrying a bag on his back, the contents of which were not known.
Police have registered a case against Harpreet and Rajatvir under Section 25 of the Arms Act, and sections 3 and 4 of the Explosives Act at the Patiala Sadar police station. DIG Gill said it was too early to give adetailed statement on the possibility of their having any terror links. He said the radical connection of the father-son duo was yet to be established.
`JIHADI’ VIDEOS
Rajatvir’s social media account showed that two videos with `jihadi’ content had been uploaded on May 30 at 8.19am, and then at 11.06pm.One of the videos `Wo Dekho Mujahid Musalman’ (`See that Muslim who is engaged in `jihad’), which was a video song, showed numerous clippings of mujahideens training with weapons, and in martial arts. The video also showed world terrorist leaders, including Osama Bin laden. The other video `Maulana Masood Azhar Bayan Maut Ki Haqiqat’ (`The truth behind the death of Maulana Masood Azhar’) shows a 42-minute long narrative adoring Allah and sacrifices of the Muslims.