The Punjab Director General of Police, K.P.S. Gill, said it had been reasonably established that it was a human bomb which killed Beant Singh and 14 others in the maximum security area in front of the Civil Secretariat here. In all, 16 persons, including the human bomb, were killed in the blast.
Addressing a hurriedly convened news conference in the evening, he said three pans of the body lying unclaimed, which included two feet ‘and part of the skull, were that of the human bomb and further investigations were in progress, The identity of the person would be established after the DNA tests.
Al the same time, he claimed the investigating agencies were very close 0 identification, The person was in his mid-twenties and used the car With the Delhi number plate, which was found abandoned, to reach the secretariat. The car was repainted in Chandigarh’s He said this was the conclusion arrived at during joint investigations by the CBI, Punjab Police and the Chandigarh Police. Gill said the body of the human bomb had been reconstructed and further tests were being conducted. He said the security arrangement at the site had been reconstructed and the sealing was not found to be foolproof, He attributed the failure to seal off the porch to the multiplicity of the security agencies involved. He said no action has been taken against any security personnel so far.
He said the explosive used was gelatin along with aluminum powder. This explosive has been used in Punjab earlier also. No part of the bomb had been recovered from the site. The blast caused maximum damage to the body of the human bomb, followed by that of Dr. Amil and Beant Singh.
Article extracted from this publication >>September 8, 1995
