Patiala, February 16

The Patiala Police has arrested five persons in connection with a series of bomb blasts in various districts of Haryana in 2009. These persons were allegedly working under the banner of Azad Organisation and were accused of planting bombs in mosques and at other places with the aim of creating a communal rift.

The Punjab Police is now trying to get in touch with the Haryana Police to ascertain the role of the accused in other crimes as well, besides ascertaining if the accused had any affiliation with Hindu extremist groups.

The accused were identified as Sagar (alias Azad), Sham Niwas, Gurnam Singh, Parveen Sharma and Rajesh Kumar, all residents of Haryana. Sagar was the kingpin who also took credit for the blasts by approaching various media houses a day after the blasts, the police said. The accused were arrested by the CIA, Rajpura.

Patiala SSP DP Singh said the accused had planted two bombs in a slaughterhouse in Satakpuri village of Mewat district in 2009. They had also planted bombs in mosques in Malav village (Mewat) and Jind, besides conducting a blast in Safido. During questioning, the accused have admitted that a blast by them in Satakpuri had left one dead and many others injured, Singh added.

The police said one of the gang members, Rajesh, worked in a stone-crushing company and he used to procure explosives for the blasts.

In 2009, a blast had ripped apart a building housing the office of a truck union in Safidon town. Luckily, there was no one in the building at that time. However, there was extensive damage to the office and property. A similar explosion had occurred at a madrasa earlier. The accused have accepted their role in these blasts, senior police officers claimed. However, their record in Punjab is clean. They are wanted by the Haryana Police, he said.