Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Sunday sent the police to the house of Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa to “unravel his possible links with Pakistan’s agencies or terrorists” after Bajwa’s statements on TV regarding the recent grenade blasts in the state.
Partap Bajwa, in an interview with a news channel on Saturday, claimed that he had been told that a cache of 50 hand grenades had been smuggled into Punjab and that out of them, 18 had already been used, but 32 were still out there. “Where all and against whom all those will be used, we do not know,” said Bajwa.
He was referring to a series of grenade blasts in the state over the past six months. The political furore over his statement came a day after the arrest of the mastermind behind a hand grenade attack inside senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia’s house.
A majority of the hand grenades have been thrown outside or near police establishments, but at least two attacks targeted political leaders. The latest attack on Kalia’s house in Jalandhar took place last week on Tuesday.
The Punjab Police claims to have cracked all the cases.
Upset over Partap Bajwa’s statement, CM Mann issued a video statement Sunday, saying that it seemed that Bajwa was in touch with people in Pakistan, their agencies, or even terrorists, since the information regarding the 50 hand grenades was not part of any intelligence gathered by the police. “Where did you get this piece of information? It is neither with us nor has any central agency shared it with us. It is your duty to now share your source of information,” said Mann.
CM Mann further said that it seemed that the sole purpose of the statement was to spread terror. “If the information provided by you has no basis, you were doing it to spread terror, a serious crime in itself. There will be strict action against you if that is the case,” he said.
The CM added that besides Partap Bajwa, the central leadership of the Congress should also make their stand clear about possible links of their party members with Pakistan.
#Punjab CM @BhagwantMann says LoP @Partap_Sbajwa has recently given a statement that 50 grenades have been sent to India, Punjab by Pakistan, 18 have been blasted & 32 are still remaining. CM Mann questions How Bajwa knows, Did he have a link with the terrorist organisations ?… pic.twitter.com/NOksjU13GE
— Akashdeep Thind (@thind_akashdeep) April 13, 2025
A team from the counter-intelligence wing of the Punjab Police reached Partap Bajwa’s house within hours of the chief minister’s statement. Led by Additional Inspector General (AIG) Ravjot Kaur Grewal, the team, ThePrint has learnt, questioned Bajwa about the source of his information.
“Despite constantly questioning him, Bajwa did not cooperate with us and refused to tell us what the source of his information was,” said the AIG, later talking to media persons outside Bajwa’s house.
Bajwa vs AAP
On Sunday, Partap Bajwa told the media that it was shocking that the Chief Minister, facing charges of incompetence, had resorted to threatening the Leader of Opposition to try to save his skin.
“Even before the police reached my house, the press had already been informed about it. The idea was to create an impression that the chief minister was doing something substantial. I am the Leader of Opposition, and I have also remained an MP in the Centre. I can have multiple sources of information, including those in the Punjab Police. I have already stated publicly whatever I knew. The information was given to me to warn me about how these grenades could be used against any leader, and that I should also be careful about my security,” said Bajwa.
He added that he held a constitutional post in the Punjab government, and his primary aim was to assist the government.
““I know the seriousness of these blasts. As the Opposition, as Punjabis, we are worried about the state going back into the dark days of militancy. I have myself suffered at the hands of those times. Apart from my father, who was killed by militants in 1987, I too faced an attack three years later. But if the Chief Minister thinks I have done something wrong, he is free to register a case against me,” said Partap Bajwa.
Later in the day, he put out a news story on X, emphasising that a total cache of 55 grenades had landed in Punjab, and out of them, nine were still unaccounted for. “Shocking! CM @BhagwantMann threatens LoP for raising concerns on cross-border grenades, while his police admit 9 of 55 grenades from Pakistan are still untraced. Who’s misleading Punjab? Governance shouldn’t be about vendetta (sic),” Partap Bajwa wrote.
Addressing a press conference Sunday, state Aam Aadmi Party chief Aman Arora said that it was clear from the day’s events that Bajwa was trying to generate terror in Punjab.
“Since he seems to know everything about how many hand grenades had come in, how many were used, and how many are still unused, he should be held responsible for every grenade blast that happens in the state from now onwards,” said Arora.
Arora said that more than a decade ago, the then-chief minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, had written a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, accusing Partap Bajwa of having links with terrorists and drug smugglers. He should explain that, as well, Arora added.
Reacting to his allegations, Partap Bajwa put out a 2023 interview where Captain Amarinder Singh confirmed allegations of that sort against Bajwa but added that an inquiry found nothing against him.
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Congress reactions
Other Congress leaders have come out in Bajwa’s support.
State Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that the CM sent the police only to put pressure on the Leader of Opposition. “The Punjab CM deliberately took this kind of action to pressurise the Leader of Opposition… The way the Punjab Police is working is not justified… The public knows who has connections to Pakistan. Nothing will happen just because he (Bhagwant Mann) says so…”
Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira said that sending the police to Bajwa’s house was an attempt to silence him.
“The direct threat handed out to LoP @Partap_Sbajwa by the Cm @BhagwantMann only confirms Punjab has been turned into a police state by these fake revolutionaries @AamAadmiParty!” Khaira posted on X.
BJP leader Kalia said Bajwa was a mature politician and such statements should be made with complete understanding, especially when it came to such a highly sensitive matter.
Addressing a press conference Saturday, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the Punjab Police, in a joint operation with the central agencies, had arrested Uttar Pradesh-based Saidul Ameen for the grenade attack at Kalia’s house. According to Yadav, the arrested Zeeshan Akhtar, a close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Pakistan-based ISI-sponsored gangster Shahzad Bhatti, masterminded the grenade attack.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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