A grenade attack at a private hospital in Gurdaspur on Tuesday shattered windowpanes and glass door of its emergency ward, police said, adding they have arrested the main perpetrator with links to a foreign-based handler. Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said the breakthrough came within six hours of the incident.

“Gurdaspur police and the Counter Intelligence Wing jointly solved the grenade attack case at Kalanaur, Gurdaspur within six hours of the incident. Acting swiftly on technical and human intelligence inputs, the main perpetrator responsible for the attack has been apprehended. Preliminary probe reveals the involvement of a foreign-based handler,” said Yadav.

He added that further probe is underway, and both forward and backward linkages are being thoroughly examined to identify and dismantle the entire network behind the attack.

Gurdaspur SSP Aditya identified the accused as Dharminder alias ‘Tindi’ (24), from Tarn Taran. He was earlier booked in cases registered under the NDPS Act. Asked about the motive, the SSP said investigators are questioning the accused and technical checks are being made to establish why the attack was carried out and whether it was intended to spread fear or to extort money. Kalanaur police station received information about a loud sound at Multani Hospital, located near the bus stand area, around 2.40 pm.

“Police team found shattered glass at the spot. Forensic teams collected the evidence,” the SSP said. In CCTV footage, a suspicious man could be seen standing near the hospital. The doctor who operates the hospital told police that he had been receiving extortion calls for the past year and that he had been provided security. The SSP said those calls had been acted upon by police and action was taken.

Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa termed the “explosion” as extremely worrying and demanded a probe. “According to the information received so far, this was a grenade attack; if this information is correct, then it is not just a matter of negligence in security, but also raises a big question on the security of sensitive places related to people’s lives.”