WSN Service

PHILLAUR: The killing of two police officers Inspector Harcharan Singh Suri and ASI Rammoorty in a bomb blast on the premises of the police training college here on Feb 11 has again sent shock waves among the state police. The baffling blast is the second this year killing high ranking cops.

The four organizations, AISSF, Babbar Khalsa, KCF and BTFK owned the blast. The two officers were on their hit list because they tortured Sikh youths while in custody.

Besides Inspector Suri and ASI Rammoorty, two head constables were injured in the blast. They are Surinder Pal and Mangat Ram. They were studying in a nearby room. The blast took place in the well-fortified police lines. There is an armory in the complex with a constant armed guard. Suni was from Majitha police district and Moorty from Jalandhar. They had come to the complex for an advance course prior to promotions. According to G.S Bhullar DIG the principal of the police training college who took over only last week, the two had been given a special room near the armory because of the risk to their lives. Both went to their common room at 9 pm. The blast took place soon after.

The front portion of the room was completely demolished windows in buildings nearby were shattered. The body of Suri was badly mutilated with its head blown off. There was blood even on the ceiling. Police say the bomb was under Suri’s bed.

Suri belonged to Amritsar. An attempt was made on his life in 1988 near the Jandiala bus stand where he had served for a while.

Moorty was from Kurukshetra. The police training college is located in a fort built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan and was later renovated by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It served as a garrison of the Sikh army then. Bhullar said the security at the fort was very tight. There are two gates with armed guards.

There is a grave of a Muslim saint visited by many people every Thursday inside the fort. Bhullar said the visitors were always escorted by the police and a strict watch was maintained over them.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 16, 1990