HARPREET BAJWA & SANJEEV CHOPRACHANDIGARH/PATIALA, FEBRUARY 3: Preliminary investigation by the Haryana and Punjab Police into the attack on Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in Nilokheri near Karnal on Saturday indicates a militant angle behind the attempt.

Karnal SSP A S Chawla told The Indian Express on Sunday that former Punjab militant Bakshish Singh was suspected to be the “mastermind” behind the attack and that 2 kg RDX was used in the attack.

Interrogation of two persons arrested in the case revealed that Singh, a resident of Patiala, brought the RDX for the attack.

“Truck driver Swaran Singh and cleaner Mohinder told us that Bakshish brainwashed them to avenge the blasphemous act of Gurmeet Ram Rahim,” said Chawla.

“They admitted that the plan to attack the Baba was hatched at his house in Patiala. He fitted the RDX in the spare tyre of a truck and attached a detonator.”

Wanted in several cases inside Punjab, including alleged murders, Singh was once associated with the Khalistan Commando Force (Shutrana group).

After the group was almost wiped out by the police, he switched allegiance to the Babbar Khalsa International and the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan.

The Dera chief is believed to have invoked militant ire over the same controversy that had led to violence in Punjab last year, after Sikhs objected to him “emulating” Guru Gobind Singh.

editor@expressindia.com