CHANDIGARH: On April 1, 2026, an explosion was reported outside the Punjab BJP office in Chandigarh’s Sector 37, prompting an immediate security response. According to reports, the blast occurred around 5 pm in the vicinity of the office. Preliminary findings suggest two persons arrived on a two-wheeler, got down, and allegedly hurled a crude bomb or improvised explosive device (IED) before fleeing the spot.
Now, Khalistani terrorist Sukhjinder Singh Babbar from the banned outfit Babbar Khalsa has claimed responsibility for the grenade attack.
A 10-second video of the attack, apparently self-filmed, popped up on social media within minutes. The separatist group Babbar Khalsa took responsibility for the attack in a social media post, but police have yet to confirm it.
The clip shows a man taking out a blue-coloured hand grenade from his pocket, while someone is heard telling him to throw it at the BJP office. He pulls the pin, lobs the grenade over some parked cars and the two sprint away. Their faces are not seen in the footage, but the man who threw the grenade is seen holding a helmet in the crook of his arm, suggesting that they used a two-wheeler.
Police teams reached the spot within a few minutes of the blast. The area was cordoned off immediately, and BSF personnel were deployed to secure the BJP office. A Central Forensic Science Laboratory (team was later called in to collect evidence. An NIA team was at the site to investigate the blast. A bomb detection squad also joined in to sanitise the area.
In a message released in Punjabi, one Sukhjinder Singh Babbar said violence against Punjab’s youth would be met with retaliation. The blast is claimed to be in retaliation for the encounter of Ranjit Singh in Gurdaspur.
Ranjit Singh, 19, a Gurdaspur resident, was among the three youths accused in the double murder of an ASI and a Home Guard near the Pakistan border on February 22. He was allegedly killed in an encounter on February 25.
Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar described the attack as an attempt to disrupt communal harmony. “There have been grenade attacks on police stations in Punjab. Recently, a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar was vandalized in Hoshiarpur. And today, BJP state office in Chandigarh was attacked. This series of incidents indicates attempts to disrupt communal harmony of the state,” he said.
Notably, one such incident near the Bhindi Saidan police station was earlier claimed by the Khalistan Liberation Army.
