Bomb hurled at trader?s house

SOME MISCREANTS threw a bomb at the house of a businessman at Guru Nanak Colony late on Wednesday night and fled. The main entrance door of the house caught fire, but it was extinguished quickly. The attack appears to be a result of old enmity. No one has been arrested so far.

The incident occurred at around 2.30 am on Wednesday. There was a loud bang at the door, which woke up Nirmaljeet Singh Khanuja (44) and his family. When they came running out they found it was on fire and beside the door there lay a bottle of kerosene. By this time, Khanuja’s neighbour had also come, woken by the noise of the explosion. Together they put out the fire.

Annapurna police were informed of the incident, and they have registered case under Section 3/5 of Explosives Act. The police said Khanuja is a coal trader and has his depot at Lalbag. They said Khanuja has named two persons, Vikas Dube and Lallu alias Lalla Thakur, who might be behind the attack. Khanuja suspects that the chances of Dube’s involvement were more since they found a cap, similar to one that Dube wears, near the scene of the crime. Dube had a grudge against Khanuja, since a few days back the businessman and other members of the colony had removed a paan shop set up by Dube as a number of anti-socials were frequenting the shop.

He also suspects Thakur because the latter had threatened a few days ago that he would throw a bomb at his house. Khanuja has 80,000 square feet of land in Lalbag where Thakur is the watchman and there is a dispute over the property and a court case is going on.