Jalandhar: Grenade attacks and hit-and-run incidents are increasing in the city.

Jalandhar: In 2025, Jalandhar was rocked by a series of grenade attacks, encounters, snatchings, drug seizures, jewelry robberies, extortion calls, and incidents of sexual assault against women and minors. The city also mourned the death of marathon legend Fauja Singh, who was killed by a reckless driver, and the death of Richie KP, son of leader Mohinder Singh KP, who died in a separate speeding car accident. Despite growing criticism from the opposition regarding the law and order situation, the police continued to investigate the high-profile cases that shook the city and its surrounding areas. The new year began with the hope that the horrific crimes of 2025 would serve as a lesson to prevent a repetition of past mistakes.
In April, an unknown assailant hurled a grenade at the house of former Punjab minister and BJP national executive member Manoranjan Kalia at around 1 am, damaging a side door near the entrance and also damaging his car. The assailant reportedly arrived in an e-rickshaw to carry out the attack. By mid-April, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken over the case from the Jalandhar police. Four people, including Khalistani operatives, were charged in connection with the attack, including the main accused Saidul Ami, auto-rickshaw driver Satish Kumar Kaka, and his cousin Harry. Just a month before the incident at Kalia’s house, on March 16, 2025, a grenade was also hurled at the house of YouTuber Roger Sandhu in Raipur Rasulpur village of Jalandhar. Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti soon claimed responsibility for the attack, and within days, the Jalandhar Rural Police arrested Hardik Kamboj, the main accused in the grenade attack, from Yamunanagar. He attempted to escape, sustaining injuries, and was subsequently re-arrested.
On March 31, in Nangal village of Phillaur, Jalandhar, Dr. B.R. The glass surrounding a statue of Ambedkar was found shattered. The separatist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) claimed responsibility for the incident. Police arrested two people for damaging the statue, identified as Sukhbir Singh, alias Rajan (32), and Avtar Singh, alias Tari, both residents of Noorpur Chatta village in Nakodar. The vandalism and subsequent outrage by residents of Phillaur and Ambedkarite groups alarmed the police, as the district police had already increased surveillance of 56 statues of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in and around Phillaur. In response to the incident, a new statue of Ambedkar was commissioned from Lucknow for Nangal village, where the incident occurred. On June 2, 2025, another statue of Ambedkar in Phillaur was vandalized – a miscreant painted it black.
Sikh legend and the world’s oldest marathon runner, Fauja Singh, also known as the “Turbaned Tornado,” died in a hit-and-run incident on July 14 while on his afternoon walk in his ancestral village in Jalandhar. His death was met with mourning worldwide and tributes from those whose lives he had touched. Singh was struck by a speeding Toyota Fortuner driven by Amritpal Singh Dhillon, an NRI, who was arrested the following day. Exactly two months later, on September 13, Richie KP, son of two-time MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Mohinder Singh KP, died in a tragic accident when a speeding car collided with his vehicle. Footage showed a speeding white Creta car hitting several vehicles at Mata Rani Chowk – one of them being Richie’s Fortuner. The accused in the incident, Gursharan Prince, was arrested on September 30. In October, a lengthy case involving an FIR and the suspension of (then) Phillaur SHO Bhushan Kumar became a topic of discussion in the district after a viral video showed him having an inappropriate conversation with the mother of a rape victim. The SHO was booked in three cases, including one under the POCSO Act. The Jalandhar Rural Police were also reprimanded by the Punjab State Commission for Protection of Child Rights for their handling of the case. Former Phillaur SHO Bhushan Kumar was charged under sections of sexual harassment and the POCSO Act in three cases registered on October 14, 23, and 24. He had allegedly sexually harassed a woman and her daughter when they approached him for justice. This case was related to the rape of a minor girl, whose family and mother had approached him to register an FIR regarding her rape. The rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by her friend’s father on the night of November 22 was one of the most horrific crimes in Jalandhar this year, sparking a debate on women’s safety. The girl, who had gone to visit a friend in the neighborhood, was allegedly murdered by her friend’s father.