NEW DELHI, Dec 23: One person was killed and five others injured in a blast inside the district court complex in Ludhiana on Thursday afternoon.
The police said the blast took place in the wash room of the second floor of the court complex. The blast was so powerful that one of the walls in the complex got damaged and most of the windows even in the first floor of the building were shattered. The windowpanes of several cars parked in the complex were also damaged in the blast.
The district court was functioning when the blast took place. Ludhiana Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the area had been sealed and forensic teams would collect samples from the blast site. Replying to a question on preliminary investigations, Bhullar said the source of the blast was unclear as of now. “One body has been recovered. The person was either carrying the explosive or was very near to it. We are awaiting the arrival of an NSG team from Delhi. The five injured are out of danger,” Bhullar said.
The Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla dialed senior Punjab government officials over the incident. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the state government about the blast. Sources said officials from the NIA and the National Security Guard have left for the spot for an inspection.
Condemning the blast, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said some anti-national and anti-State forces were seeking to cause disruptions ahead of the Assembly elections in the State. Talking to reporters in Chandigarh, Channi said he would visit Ludhiana to take stock of the situation. “As [Assembly] elections are coming near, some anti-national and anti-State forces are trying to commit such disgusting acts and for this the government is alert and the people should also be alert,” he said, adding the culprits would not be spared.
Ludhiana’s District Administrative Complex and government offices in the adjoining DC office complex (mini-secretariat) have been evacuated as a precautionary measure. Before this, the last bomb blast in Ludhiana was on October 14, 2007, at Shingar Cinema hall, in which six people were killed and 37 injured. Four alleged Babbar Khalsa International militants were accused of carrying out the blasts.
(Manas Dasgupta)