A day after the Punjab Police claimed to have recovered an explosive-filled tiffin box in the fields of Ali Ke village along the India-Pakistan border in Ferozepur district, Punjab’s former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday took on the Congress-led State Government, especially the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, hoping that they will come out of “denial mode” and take this threat seriously.Punjab Police, on Thursday, stated it had recovered the tiffin bomb along the indo-Pak border on Wednesday following the interrogation of three people. “Hope @PunjabGovt India, HM (Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa) Punjab in particular, will come out of denial mode and take this threat seriously.  With multiple consignments being sent regularly from across the border, extra vigil and a detailed action plan must be formed to combat the challenge,” tweeted Amarinder, after the reports of recovery of the tiffin bomb. 

Notably, Randhawa, who also holds the Home portfolio, in an apparent reference to Capt Amarinder’s earlier remarks about the security threat to Punjab from Pakistan, had warned against alarmist narrative by certain people having vested interests about peace and security in Punjab. Randhawa had then stated that it would create an unnecessary sense of fear and insecurity among the people. The state Director General of Police (DGP) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, in an official statement on Thursday, said that the Ludhiana Rural Police had on Monday arrested two persons for providing shelter and logistical support to the accused — identified as Ranjeet Singh alias Gora, in Jalalabad blast case, which is being investigated by NIA.

The DGP said that during the course of investigation of this case, it came to light that the accused were in possession of one tiffin bomb, which they had kept concealed in agriculture fields. “Following revelations of the accused persons, a joint search operation was carried out by teams of Counter Intelligence Ferozepur and Ludhiana and CIA Jagraon at village Ali Ke in Ferozepur on Wednesday and recovered the tiffin bomb,” he said. ADGP Internal Security RN Dhoke said that further investigation in the case is on and more arrests are expected to be made soon. Earlier also, recoveries of tiffin bombs have been made in Amritsar Rural, Kapurthala, Fazilka and Tarn Taran in the past few months. In the past few months, tiffin bombs have also been recovered in Amritsar Rural, Kapurthala, Fazilka and Tarn Taran.

 Earlier, the Punjab Police had foiled a major terror attack attempt ahead of Independence Day after recovering a tiffin box filled with improvised explosive device (IED) along the Indo-Pak border in Amritsar. Police had then stated that the bomb could have been delivered on the Indian side through a drone from Pakistan.