Patiala: Punjab Police on Saturday said three terror strikes across the state — CIA Moga grenade attack, Sirhind railway track blast and Shambhu railway track blast — were part of a single, coordinated conspiracy run by a terror module receiving directions from handlers based in Pakistan and Malaysia, with links spanning the US.The breakthrough followed the arrest of a key associate in the Shambhu blast case, helping investigators connect the trail of terror incidents reported since Nov 2025, director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said. This is the fifth arrest in the Shambhu case.The operations, carried out jointly by the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) Amritsar, Counter Intelligence Pathankot and Patiala police, led to the arrest of Gurjinder Singh alias Baba Beant, a resident of Bidhipur village in Gurdaspur district.The arrest followed investigations into the April 27 explosion on a railway track near Shambhu in Patiala district, where Jagroop Singh alias Jupa, the main executor, died while allegedly attempting to plant an improvised explosive device that detonated prematurely. Police had earlier arrested four “highly radicalised” individuals — Pardeep Singh Khalsa, Kulwinder Singh alias Bagga, Satnam Singh alias Satta and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi — and recovered a hand grenade, two .30-bore pistols, sophisticated communication devices and laptops.Subsequently, another cache of militant hardware, including a rocket-propelled grenade, explosives, hand grenades and high-end pistols, was recovered on the disclosure of Jagroop’s brother Satnam alias Satta, police said.The DGP said preliminary investigations revealed that Gurjinder and Jagroop were long-time associates and that on the day of the Shambhu blast, the duo travelled separately to Rajpura to avoid detection. Gurjinder was allegedly present near the site at the time of the explosion but escaped unhurt as he was standing at a distance and fled after realising Jagroop had died in the blast.According to Yadav, Gurjinder’s interrogation established a clear link between the grenade attack on CIA Moga on Nov 7, 2025, Sirhind railway track blast on Jan 23 this year, and the Shambhu blast on April 27, all allegedly executed by the same module under directions from overseas handlers.“With this arrest and earlier recoveries, all three terror-related incidents in Moga, Sirhind and Shambhu have been successfully solved,” the DGP said.AIG SSOC Amritsar Sukhminder Singh Mann said Gurjinder was arrested from the Amritsar area in an intelligence-led operation. Patiala SSP Varun Sharma said the module maintained strict radio silence and took elaborate measures to evade detection. Further investigations are underway.
