Blast rocks court, 1 dies in Ludhiana | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Blast rocks court, 1 dies in Ludhiana

ByAneesha Sareen Kumar and Tarsem Singh Deogan, Hindustan Times, Ludhiana
Dec 24, 2021 02:48 AM IST

The blast occurred at 12.22pm in a washroom on the second floor of the court building, which is right next to the district administrative complex and has a daily footfall of over 25,000 people.

An explosion rocked the district courts complex in Ludhiana on Thursday afternoon, killing one person, suspected to be the perpetrator, and injuring six others, including three women, police said.

Police cordoning off the Ludhiana court blast site on Thursday.(HT Photo)
Police cordoning off the Ludhiana court blast site on Thursday.(HT Photo)

The blast occurred at 12.22pm in a washroom on the second floor of the court building, which is right next to the district administrative complex and has a daily footfall of over 25,000 people. Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who visited the spot said the blast, was carried to disrupt law and order in the state ahead of the assembly polls. Union home minister Amit Shah had a phone coversation with Channi to take stock of the situation, a statement from the chief minister’s office said.

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Police suspect the deceased, whose burnt body was not removed from the site till late in the evening as investigations were on and a forensic team was collecting samples, was carrying the bomb.

Commissioner of police Gurpreet Bhullar said while nothing can be confirmed at this stage, the preliminary investigations suggested that the unidentified suspect was the bomb carrier. “The body of the deceased has not been removed from the site so that the investigation at the crime scene is not hampered,” he said. A team of the National Security Guard (NSG) from Delhi was called in and another one from the National Investigative Agency (NIA) reached the spot.

The blast occurred on a day when advocates were on strike, and the footfall was relatively low. The explosion ripped apart a section of the building and was heard hundreds of metres away. The walls of the washroom were damaged and glass window panes of the lawyers’ chambers as well as of vehicles parked near the building were shattered.

There was an air of fear as police cordoned off the area and evacuated the building and the injured were rushed to hospital in ambulances.

Gurbakshish Bedi, a lawyer, said he was in a lift at the time of the blast and at first felt there was an earthquake or the lift had collapsed. “Initially, we could not make out that it was a blast, such was the impact,” he said.

Harjot Singh, another lawyer, said he was on the second floor and going towards his chamber when he heard a loud thud. “There was complete darkness and debris fell on my advocate friend who was with me. There was dust flying all over and I saw two women near a photocopy machine literally hurled in the air. There was a strong small of potassium all around. The debris was heavy and my friend and I removed some of it to make our way,” he said.

The incident exposed inadequate security arrangements at the crowded complex in the heart of the state’s commercial nerve centre. Security of court premises has come in for scrutiny after similar incidents at Delhi’s Rohini court complex.

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana expressed deep shock over the blast in Ludhiana, saying such incidents in quick succession across the country presented a “worrisome” trend. Expressing concern at the “lack of adequate security in court complexes”, he said “Such incidents occurring in quick succession across the country are a worrisome trend.”The CJI called the chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court Ravi Shankar Jha to inquire about the development.

Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh said police must investigate the matter thoroughly, while his political adversary, state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said there was no doubt that peace was being disturbed by vested interests ahead of elections.

Two of the injured women Sandeep Kaur (31) and Sharanjit Kaur (25) said they blacked out soon after the blast and just remember people rescuing them amid chaos and panic.

A resident of Raikot, Sandeep is a photocopy machine operator on the second floor of the complex and Sharanjit, a resident of Mundiyan Kalan, came to the court for a hearing of her case. Sandeep suffered injuries to her head and fractured a leg, while the blast caused nosebleeds to Sharanjit.

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