Investigators will also have to determine whether the blast is the handiwork of Islamist terror groups or if a dormant Punjab militant organisation has become active again.

Former Punjab Director General of Police K P S Gill maintained that planting of explosive devices in a cinema hall meant that it was most likely a terror strike and his suspicions would go to the Babbar Khalsa International or the Khalistan Zindabad Force.

But the role of Islamic groups could not be ruled out since militants groups in Punjab and in Jammu and Kashmir have been in touch in the past, he pointed out.

The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Maulana Habib Ur Rehman Ludhianvi, issued a statement condemning the incident. Apprehending a foreign hand, he said: “Maybe the ISI of Pakistan is behind this blast. But communal harmony is very strong here and will continue to be. Like Ajmer Sharif, the people of Ludhiana will also bravely fight this tragedy.”

Another line of investigation likely to be followed is the seizure just last month of 3.5 kg of RDX from a Maruti Esteem belonging to the son of a former militant in Ludhiana a day before Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s visit to the city. Police officers alleged at the time that Gurpreet, who is absconding, had gone to Malaysia about a month earlier and had made a detour to Lahore, where he contacted Wadhawa Singh, chief of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and collected the RDX.

... contd.