Rajpura railway track blast: Jaswinder Singh Multani claims responsibility; 4 terror suspects arrested

PTC Web Desk: A major development has surfaced in the Rajpura railway track blast case, with Germany-based pro-Khalistan operative Jaswinder Singh Multani claiming responsibility for the incident through a social media post that has since gone viral.

In the post, Multani alleged that “one of our brothers attained martyrdom during the operation,” adding that his sacrifice would not go in vain. However, the authenticity of the viral post has not been independently verified. PTC News does not confirm the claim.

Meanwhile, the Patiala Police on Tuesday said they have busted a pro-Khalistan terror module linked to the incident and arrested four “highly radicalised” individuals. The accused have been identified as Pardeep Singh Khalsa of Mansa, Kulwinder Singh of Bappiana village (Mansa), Satnam Singh of Tarn Taran and Gurpreet Singh of Goindwal bypass (Tarn Taran).

Addressing a press conference, DIG Patiala Range Kuldeep Chahal said Pardeep Singh Khalsa was the kingpin of the module and had close links with a Malaysia-based pro-Khalistan terrorist. He was also in contact with arms suppliers based in Pakistan. The police said Khalsa played a key role in radicalising youth and allegedly facilitated their travel to Malaysia for terror training before assigning them tasks related to militant activities.

The DIG further revealed that Khalsa had formed a radical outfit named ‘Chalda Vaheer Chakarwarti, Attariye’. The group was allegedly planning further attacks targeting public infrastructure.

SSP Patiala Varun Sharma said the police recovered a cache of arms and equipment from the accused, including a hand grenade, two .30 bore pistols with ammunition, advanced communication devices and laptops used to stay in touch with handlers abroad.

The arrests come a day after a blast was reported late Monday evening on the Ambala–Amritsar freight corridor near the Rajpura–Shambhu stretch in Patiala district. The explosion, which occurred around 8.30 pm in a relatively isolated area near the Haryana border, damaged railway tracks and briefly disrupted train movement.

Police investigations suggest that the blast was not accidental but an attempted major detonation. A man identified as Jagroop Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran district, was killed in the explosion. His body was found severely mutilated, with remains scattered over a radius of nearly 100 metre. Officials believe he was attempting to carry out the blast when it detonated prematurely.

The deceased was identified through a mobile phone recovered intact from the blast site despite the intensity of the explosion.

This marks the second such incident involving railway infrastructure in Punjab in recent months. Earlier this year, a blast near Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district had led to the derailment of a goods train engine, injuring the loco pilot.

Investigations are ongoing to establish the full extent of the network and verify the claims made in the viral social media post.