Ludhiana court blast kills one; Lawyers were on strike

A blast inside the Ludhiana district court complex on Thursday left one person dead and several injured, said Punjab Police. The blast that took place at 12.20 pm in the washroom of the second floor of the court complex was so powerful that one of the walls in the complex got damaged and windows of some vehicles parked on the premises were shattered.

The district court was functioning when the blast took place. Earlier, the police claimed two people died in the blast but later said only one had died.

Union home minister Amit Shah spoke to Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi for an update on the blast and also sought a report from the state government. Channi, who visited Ludhiana to take stock of the situation, said anti-national and anti-state forces were trying to commit such acts ahead of the assembly polls.


Not many people were present at the time of the blast owing to strikes by lawyers. One of the injured has been identified as advocate RS Mand. The area has been cordoned off and the court premises vacated. Ludhiana's police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said one body has been recovered. "Probably that person was either carrying explosives or was very near to it," he said.

Bhullar said the area has been sealed and forensic teams will collect samples from the blast site. Bhullar said investigation is underway.

Among the injured were also a shopkeeper, a police officer and two others. ADG (intelligence) AS Rai said, "The investigations are still on but there have been reports that a neighbouring country may try to disrupt peace and harmony in the border state."

Officials have not yet called it a terror attack and suspect it to be a sabotage ahead of the assembly polls next year. No organisation has so far claimed responsibility, they said. The CCTV footage is being scanned by the police and few suspects are being questioned.