IED recovered behind police post in Amritsar

While the BJP criticized the “deteriorating security situation” under the AAP government, Punjab Police found an improvised explosive device behind a police station in Amritsar district.

Acting on specific information, Rayya police station in-charge Guriqbal Singh removed the explosive from behind the chowki on Friday night (February 20), an official said.

The official said that after the rescue efforts, the area was cordoned off and the bomb disposal team was called to the scene.

The improvised explosive device (IED) was later defused and an FIR was registered at Beas police station, police said. They added that the investigation was ongoing.

“Thanks to the alertness and swift action of Amritsar rural police, an IED-related incident was averted in time. A thorough investigation is ongoing,” police said in a post on he said.

Meanwhile, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh slammed the AAP government and said the conspiracy to blow up a police station in Amritsar using an IED was a “serious reflection of the deteriorating security situation in Punjab”.

He said it was extremely worrying that anti-national elements were being encouraged to target police institutions in a sensitive border state.

Mr Chugh said the rapid response of the bomb squad and security personnel prevented a major tragedy, but added that Mann needed to clarify how the explosive material reached the city.

He questioned whether the intelligence apparatus was “weakening” or whether the government’s “priorities were elsewhere.”

He claimed that the law and order situation in Punjab has “deteriorated significantly” in the last four years.

He said repeated gang wars, criminal operations conducted from inside prisons, drone-based arms and narcotics smuggling and resurgence of cross-border terror modules clearly point to a weakening internal security framework.

He argued that administrative laxity encouraged anti-social and anti-national elements in the state.

Reacting to the IED recovery, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal also criticized Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for not being concerned about the law and order situation.

“Despite being the interior minister, Mann did not attend a single meeting regarding the law and the situation,” he said.