IED found under cop’s car in Punjab, police probing terror angle

National

A car cleaner’s quick thinking saved a serious catastrophe when he warned its owner, a sub-inspector, of a suspicious object under his sports utility vehicle (SUV), which subsequently turned out to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), police said on Tuesday.

The IED was discovered placed beneath S-I Dilbagh Singh’s vehicle outside his Ranjit Avenue apartment, with a police officer saying that it was part of a plot to assassinate him.

The device was allegedly set under the car, which was parked outside sub inspector Dilbagh Singh’s residence in the C-Block neighbourhood, by two motorcycle-riding individuals with their faces concealed.

Dilbagh Singh works for the Amritsar police’s crime investigation agency (CIA).

A closed-circuit television (CCTV) video of the accused putting the IED under the SUV has also surfaced.

Dilbagh Singh told the police that the car washerman informed him about some suspicious element beneath his SUV. He said it turned out to be an IED.

“Analysing the CCTV camera, we found two motorcycle-borne persons, including a Sikh youth, fitting some kind of explosive beneath Mahindra Bolero around 2.30 am,” he said. He added that he had recently received death threats from terrorist organisations. He said earlier he did not take it seriously. He said the IED was similar to the explosives seized by the police in Tarn Taran recently.

According to a police official, no arrests have been made so far, and the individuals who planted the bomb have yet to be identified. It is also unclear whether this is a case of personal animosity or a conspiracy to instil fear, according to the official. An FIR has been filed.

Police claimed they were looking for the persons who put the explosive material.