New Delhi, June 26 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at multiple locations in three states – Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, in connection with grenade attack at former Punjab minister Manoranjan Kalia’s residence, last year.

In the multi-state searches, the premier counter-terrorism agency seized various incriminating materials, including mobiles/digital devices and documents.

The searches were conducted at about 18 locations, including the premises of key suspects linked with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative Kulbir Sidhu, US-based gangster Manish @ Kaka Rana, and their nodes based in India and various other countries.

“Kulbir Sidhu, originally from Yamunanagar in Haryana, is currently in Germany and is a key aide of designated terrorist and BKI chief, Pakistan-based Wadhawa Singh Babbar. Sidhu is also an accused in the murder of VHP leader Vikas Prabhakar in Punjab, in April 2024,” the NIA said in a statement.

The locations across three states which came under NIA radar included Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Mansa districts.

In Haryana, the NIA teams cracked down in the districts of Kurukshetra, Yamuna Nagar, Karnal and Ambala. Extensive searches were also conducted in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, the grenade attack at BJP leader’s house in Jalandhar was allegedly carried out by Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives on April 7, 2024. Preliminary police probe suggested a conspiracy hatched by Pakistan’s ISI to disrupt communal harmony in Punjab.

A person named Saidul Ameen, believed to be key accused behind the grenade attack, was nabbed by the Punjab police days later, on April 12.

With not much headway made into the investigation and given the sensitivity of the case, the probe into grenade attack at former BJP legislator’s residence was handed over to NIA, this year.

–IANS

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