Theatre blast: HuJI name crops up

CHANDIGARH: Forty-eight hours after the blast in Ludhiana's Shringar theatre killed six and injured 32 others, Punjab DGP NPS Aulakh said on Tuesday that it was RDX that was used in the explosion. They also let out that a "thin pencil cell" has been recovered from the site of explosion, an area frequented by migrants from Bihar and UP, suggesting the device may have been triggered by a battery operated gadget.

The findings have come on a day the Punjab police began looking at the possibility of Bangladeshi migrants, many of them illegal, being involved in the attack. And though no agency or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack, the direction of the probe points to the possibility of Bangladesh-based ISI-linked HuJI, having a hand in it.

The connections could have been made because of the name of the militant group, with strong links to Pakistan's ISI, figuring in the Hyderabad twin blasts of August this year which killed 30 people. HuJI's name has also cropped up in the Ajmer Sharief explosion which after the recent Ramadan violence left two faithfuls dead.

Senior police officers told TOI that the hand of some migrant Bangladeshis backed by Islamist ultras can't be ruled out and that their credentials would be thoroughly checked. Officials added that questioning of suspect Bangla-deshis would be soon be done.

But with no proper data available on Bangladeshis, who number about 3,000, or other migrants living in Ludhiana, the department has decided to first get an identification survey done, a process that may take some time.

When contacted, Ludhiana DCP Sumer Singh Gujjar confirmed the move. He said though there was no data or record ever created on migrants, including Bangladeshis, the local administration would start the identification study at the earliest. Bangladeshis in the city mostly work in small industrial units and as daily wagers. Significantly, in the last six months, Punjab police has arrested over a dozen Banglad-eshis for crossing over the border illegally.