Pak gangster among 2 chargesheeted by NIA for grenade attack on YouTuber’s house

NEW DELHI, Apr 2: The NIA has filed charges against two accused, including Pakistani gangster Shehzad Bhatti, in connection with last year’s grenade attack on YouTuber Roger Sandhu’s house in Jalandhar, officials said today.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which took over the case from the Punjab Police last December, has named Shehzad as an absconder in the supplementary chargesheet filed before a special court, an official statement said.

The second accused named in the chargesheet is Dipander Pratap Singh alias Deepan Rana, who has been arrested in the case, it said.

Punjab Police, which had registered a case in March last year, had earlier chargesheeted nine persons based on its investigation.

The grenade attack on Sandhu’s house at Raipur Rasoolpur village in Jalandhar district was carried out in the early hours of March 16, 2025.

The NIA probe has revealed that Shehzad orchestrated the attack from abroad as part of a wider terror conspiracy involving a large network of terror modules engaged in targeted killings, recruitment and smuggling of arms and ammunition into India.

Shehzad used encrypted modes of communication to direct the various players involved in the attack, the NIA probe has found.

Dipander, who acted as a key local facilitator, provided logistical support to the attackers. He was also involved in handling illegal arms and explosives, according to the NIA’s findings.

Ten accused persons have so far been arrested in the case, while seven others, including Shehzad, whose current whereabouts are not known, are absconding, the statement said.

The NIA is continuing with its probe to track the absconders and uncover and destroy the other terror modules linked to the larger conspiracy behind the grenade attack, it added. (PTI)