Bathinda: Two unidentified men hurled a petrol bomb at the clinic of a local BJP functionary opposite the RSS office in Bathinda late Monday night, police said.The incident occurred hours before chief minister Bhagwant Mann was to address three programmes on Tuesday. While the 9:45 pm blast left no one injured, it damaged a scooter parked in the courtyard. Police believe the targets were Dr Tarsem Garg, who switched from AAP to BJP ahead of the May 26 civic body elections, and his wife, Rajni Goyal, a recent, unsuccessful BJP municipal candidate.Two hours after the attack, Rajni answered a call from a foreign number. “The caller identified himself as Pakistan-based terrorist Shahzad Bhatti and warned, ‘it was only a trailer,'” Garg told TOI. “When my wife asked who Shahzad Bhatti was, the caller replied, ‘Search Google to find out,’ and promised to call back in five minutes. At 5:07 am, she received a follow-up WhatsApp message reading ‘Hi,'” Garg said, adding he has no known enemies.Bathinda DIG Harjit Singh and SSP Jyoti Yadav inspected the site, while teams launched a manhunt for the attackers. “We have registered an FIR at the Bathinda Kotwali station and are investigating the foreign phone call,” said Bathinda SP (City) Narinder Singh.Garg, the former state secretary of AAP’s trade commission, said his driver and accountant informed him about the incident. Clinic CCTV footage showed two unidentified men approaching on foot, wielding two glass bottles filled with petroleum. The attackers ignited and threw one bottle, but panicked when bystanders approached, fleeing and leaving the second unlit bottle on the road, Garg said.BJP district president Sarup Chand Singla condemned the attack and demanded a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe. Singla said an attack hours before a chief ministerial visit exposes a collapsing law-and-order situation.
