Two blasts rock same spot near Amritsar’s Golden Temple in 31 hrs; 7 hurt
Two mysterious explosions have rocked an area of Amritsar close to the Golden Temple in a little more than 30 hours. The first took place at Heritage Street near the famous Punjab temple around Saturday (May 6) midnight, injuring six persons. The second happened at the same spot, near Saragarhi Sarai, around 6.30 am on Monday (May 8), injuring one.
Punjab Police, led by Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh, and forensic teams collected samples for examination from the spot on Monday. “We are verifying (what happened). The situation is normal here. Anti-sabotage, Bomb Squad, and FSL teams are here. One person has received a minor injury in the leg,” ANI quoted Mehtab Singh, ADCP, Amritsar, as saying.
Locals heard the blast and reportedly saw smoke in the area after the explosion. Reportedly, an unidentified person hung the explosive by a thread at the Heritage Street parking lot.
The first blast
The blast on Saturday night, too, was heard within a one-km radius of the Golden Temple. It occurred around 12 midnight and left the glass facades of some buildings damaged and six persons injured.
Karandeep Singh, a devotee who was present at the spot, told PTI that a few girls travelling in an auto-rickshaw were hit by shards of glass and suffered minor injuries after the explosion. The girls had come from Haryana’s Panchkula to pray at the Golden Temple, he said.
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DCP (Law and Order), Amritsar, Parminder Singh, had hinted on Sunday that the blast occurred in the chimney of a restaurant and nothing was found from the site. “But, police recovered some pieces from the spot, after which a forensic team was called from Mohali to determine the cause of the explosion,” he had said. The forensic report is awaited.
A tweet from the official handle of the Commissioner of Police Amritsar on Sunday read: “A news related to blasts in Amritsar is going viral on social media, the situation is under control. Investigation is on to establish the facts of the incident and there is no need to panic. Urge citizens to maintain peace and harmony, advise all to fact check before sharing.”
(With agency inputs)
