CHANDIGARH: Two men lobbed a hand grenade at the Punjab BJP office in Chandigarh’s Sector 37 on Wednesday evening, sparking panic in the area and a security alert.Thankfully, no one was hurt as the grenade detonated in a parking lot, falling short of the boundary wall of the BJP office. Police said CCTV cameras have captured the faces of two suspects and they are being identified.The blast took place around 4.50pm, sending shockwaves across the city. UT SSP Kanwardeep Kaur described it as a ‘low-intensity explosion’. Everything will become clear after police and forensic investigation, she said. Sources said a Chinese-made P86 hand grenade was used.A 10-second video of the attack, apparently self-filmed, popped up on social media within minutes. The separatist group Babbar Khalsa took responsibility for the attack in a social media post but police are yet to confirm it.The video clip shows a man taking out a blue-coloured hand grenade from his pocket, while someone is heard telling him to throw it at the BJP office. He pulls the pin, lobs the grenade over some parked cars and the two sprint away. A blast is heard off camera. Their faces are not seen in the footage but the man who threw the grenade is seen holding a helmet in the crook of his arm, suggesting that they used a two-wheeler.In a post on social media, “On 1/4/26, within 37 minutes in Chandigarh, gangster Simranjit Singh Babbar Leva was killed. We take responsibility for this murder. This was done to avenge the killing of our brother Jinta Mehraj, who was murdered by the Punjab police in a fake encounter.We will soon take responsibility for killing the police officials involved in that fake encounter. We will not spare anyone responsible for Jinta’s death. The people of Punjab know well how many fake encounters have taken place in Punjab. Soon, Khalistan will be established in Punjab.”As soon as the alert went out, IG Pushpendra Kumar, SSP Kanwardeep Kaur, SP-city K M Priyanka, SP-headquarters Manjeet and SP-operation cell Geetanjali Khandelwal rushed to the spot along with fire brigade, dog squad and forensic specialists. Police sealed off the area. The forensics team collected grenade fragments and found splinter marks on the wall, ground and at least two vehicles. Police are closely examining the clip for clues and scanning CCTV footage of the area to trace their route.BJP youth functionary Gurdeep Singh, whose car was hit by pellets / splinters, said a meeting was going on at the BJP office when the blast was heard. Some party workers saw smoke rising near the boundary wall. “Initially, we thought it was a tyre burst, but I later found the windscreens of my car damaged. An eyewitness told us that they saw two people running away after throwing a bomb-like object at the BJP office,” Singh said. A scooter belonging to a member of BJP’s IT Cell was also damaged.SHOs of all police stations have been ordered to conduct night patrolling. Police are also checking the social media post that claims Babbar Khalsa was behind the incident.Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar described the attack as an attempt to disrupt communal harmony. “There have been grenade attacks on police stations in Punjab. Recently, a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar was vandalized in Hoshiarpur. And today, BJP state office in Chandigarh was attacked. This series of incidents indicates attempts to disrupt communal harmony of the state,” he said.“Govt of this border state has proven unsuccessful in preventing these attacks. Punjab’s deteriorating law and order is beginning to affect Chandigarh as well,” Jakhar alleged.Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann rejected the allegation, tweeting that the opposition blamed him for anything that happened in Chandigarh UT, from student protests at Panjab University to farmers’ protest against Union govt, and Wednesday’s blast. “Now, these tricks won’t work,” he said.State Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring condemned the blast and said: “It is a matter of grave concern… It reflects complete security and intelligence failure for which the onus lies on Union home ministry. If Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, housing two Governors and two chief ministers with so much security paraphernalia is not safe, one can imagine the state of rest of Punjab.”
