Police on Sunday began a chase for Bakshish Singh Khalistan militant with probe into the attack on the Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s convoy zeroing in on his house in Patiala where the plan was allegedly created. They also concluded that the truck tyre bomb used in the yesterday’s attack was of high intensity and suspected to be RDX but its exact composition would be confirmed only after the forensic report.Police teams were sent to several places in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana & Punjab after a thorough search at his house in Patiala drew a blank. An explosives-packed tyre was hurled at the motorcade of Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at Butana in Haryana’s Karnal district while he was returning after a court appearance in Ambala.
A S Chawla told reporters the police probe indicated that Bakshish Singh, a member of Bhindranwale Khalistan Tiger Force was living in Patiala after being released from the high-security Nabha prison, was the mastermind of the attack. Punjab & Haryana police also launched search operations in Rago Majra area around Bakshish Singh’s house and Majri Akalian Village on Sirhind Road but returned empty handed, A S Chawla said. A S Chawla said,”He is suspected to have a private plane at his Patiala residence located near the main bus stand”. SSP said that the driver and cleaner of the truck whose tyre was blasted, met the BKTF militant at his Patiala residence where the two were assigned the task of carrying out the attack for which “a large truck, which has 10 tyres, was used”. Large container trucks normally make unscheduled stops at various places on the Delhi-Ambala-Jalandhar-Amritsar route of National Highway No 1, police sources said.