Tricity put on maximum alert after Gurdaspur terror attack

Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar have been put on high alert following a terror attack at Dinanagar in Gurdaspur, Punjab, on Monday morning.

Police barricades and checkpoints were put in place and police control room (PCR) vehicles also moved around Chandigarh. The inter-city borders were sealed and checks were conducted. A search operation was launched at public places such as parks, markets and bus stands.

UT SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said the police have conducted search operations around the city. “The security has been already beefed up for the upcoming Independence Day celebrations,” he said.

Special checking was carried out at the railway stations, interstate bus terminals at Sector 17 and 43, Punjab and Haryana high court and city airport. Checks were also carried out at the All India Radio (AIR), Doordarshan office and other markets, malls and parking areas in the city.

The search operation was carried out with the help of personnel from the city police stations and extra forces of EVD/ anti-sabotage checking teams, sniffer dogs, quick response teams (QRTs) of operation cell.

An alert was sounded in Panchkula, too. “We have been carrying out checks since morning and checkposts have been put up across the city,” said deputy commissioner of police, Panchkula, Anil Dhawan.

The SAS Nagar police also alerted their units. The police, along with dogs squad teams, inspected malls, parking areas, railway station, bus terminal and other places. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said extra forces have been deployed for conducting checks. He added that no suspected things were found in the city. “Following the Punjab government instructions, the routine checking will continue in the city,” he added.

4 abandoned bags at Sector 17 trigger panic

Panic gripped Sector 17 market in the evening when four abandoned bags were found. The police, along with bomb squad teams, reached the spot and cordoned off the area.

After checking, it came to light that the bags were of three youngsters — Rishi, Mohit Bedi and Munish Kumar — who came from Amarnath shrine. The trio are residents of Una in Himachal Pradesh.

Rishi told the police that they returned from Amarnath shrine and reached Sector 17 at around 6pm for shopping. They left their bags with the parking contractor and the parking boy had also taken their photographs as identities. After witnessing the police near the parking cabin, they visited the spot and verified their bags.