Due to a business feud, a teenager in Ludhiana places an IED device in his uncle’s store and is arrested.
After building an improvised explosive device (IED) with a timer and placing it in his uncle’s store in the Basti Jodhewal main market due to a business dispute, a 19-year-old was taken into custody in Ludhiana.
Particularly during the holiday season, this is one of the city’s biggest marketplaces.
The accused, Sonu Kumar, a Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh native who now lives in Basti Jodhewal, studied the technique on YouTube and, after setting the timer for 1 am on September 21, concealed the explosive in his uncle’s store. However, because the wiring was off, the gadget did not explode.
The issue was discovered on Wednesday evening when Sonu’s uncle, shop owner Ajay Kumar, noticed a strong petrol smell emanating from a polythene bag stored at his store. He became suspicious and promptly called the police and the head of the market association.
When a team arrived on the scene, they discovered a cardboard box within the polythene. Seven packets of petrol (about five to six litres), two battery cells, a small clock, a small motor, connecting cables and roughly 15 to 20 grammes of a light yellowish powder—possibly potash—were found in the box. The substance has been forwarded for laboratory testing.
“Even though the clock mechanism was not operating and the wiring was not connected, the contents clearly indicated an attempt to assemble an IED,” stated Police Commissioner Swapan Sharma.
“The accused had entered the store pretending to be a customer.”
After more research, it was discovered that on September 20 between 6:30 and 7 p.m., a man with a medical mask had entered the store pretending to be a customer. To win the shopkeeper’s trust, he had chosen a bag and given her ₹500. After that, he gave him a polythene bag and asked that he leave it at his outlet for a few hours. He promised to come back and pick it up and purchase the suitcase. “The man never returned,” one of the investigating police officers stated.
A special investigation team was formed following the IED recovery, and they focused on Sonu, the nephew of the store owner who had worked there before opening his own bag store.
According to investigators, the IED was put together at the home of Sonu’s assistant, Muhammad Amir, on Jagirpur Road in Ludhiana. Within ten hours of the case being filed, both were taken into custody. The authorities claim that Amir has completed Class 5, but Sonu is uneducated. Sonu wanted to blow up his uncle’s shop and take over the place, the police commissioner said, adding that the two had bought the supplies locally.
The two defendants have been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s sections on causing grievous harm and those pertaining to explosives and IEDs.
A terrible catastrophe was averted thanks to the shopkeeper’s prompt reporting and quick thinking, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Rupinder Singh.
Concerningly, explosives are easily accessible.
This event is somewhat similar to one that occurred in Bathinda’s Jeeda village, where a father and son team were seriously hurt while attempting to put together explosives to “blow up an Army establishment in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district”. The ease with which explosive materials and related films may be found on social media is very concerning, according to Police Commissioner Swapan Sharma. It is believed that the defendants in the Bathinda case obtained the raw materials from the internet.
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