Centre, Punjab govt conducting 'parallel' probe in Gurdaspur case: CM Parkash Singh Badal

CHANDIGARH: Days after Centre sought Punjab government's opinion on handing over the Gurdaspur terror attack case to NIA, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that both the Central and state governments are conducting a "parallel" probe on the issue.

"Let NIA do their probe, state government is conducting its own inquiry on the matter," Badal said here on being asked whether the Punjab government will hand over the probe to the central agency.

"We have no objection on any central agency conducting the probe...we share all information (related to the terror attack) with the central agency on daily basis," he said.

He stressed that the government is firm to maintain peace in the state.

However, he said that "we have certain limitations...its the Centre who should see what steps they need to take to prevent states from terror strike."

It is understood that the Punjab government is conducting it's own probe in Gurdaspur terror attack case and sharing every information with the central agencies.

On being pressed that NIA want to conduct probe, Badal said, "We have no objection, but our government will also continue parallel inquiry in the Gurdaspur attack case".

The Home Ministry is pitching for handing over the investigation to the specialised anti-terror probe agency NIA and made requests to Punjab government in this connection recently.

In the pre-dawn attack by the terrorists, suspected to be members of either Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), in army fatigues first targeted a roadside eatery, then sprayed bullets on a passenger bus and later barged into Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur.

Seven persons -- three civilians, SP (Detective) Baljit Singh and three home guards -- were killed by the terrorists.

A Punjab police SWAT commando team later eliminated the three terrorists after a long-drawn operation.