Four detained as police ramp up probe into petrol-bomb attack on RSS office in Ranchi

Ranchi: Police have detained four people and intensified their investigation into a petrol-bomb attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) provincial office in Nivaranpur, Ranchi, officials said on Thursday.

CCTV footage from the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday shows two youths arriving in a rented car and tossing petrol bombs at the premises, one of which exploded near the compound while the other failed to detonate. Authorities first detained the vehicle’s driver and later intercepted two suspects at a railway station in Bihar who were allegedly attempting to flee to Delhi. A fourth person has been taken into custody for questioning.

Jharkhand Director General of Police Tadasha Mishra ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. The SIT has carried out raids across Ranchi, following CCTV leads, technical evidence and other inputs. Teams from the Forensic Science Laboratory and a dog squad also examined the scene.

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team inspected the site on Wednesday, and officials said preliminary questioning has produced important leads, prompting investigators to widen the scope of the probe. Police are probing the precise roles of the detained individuals and whether the attack was part of a larger conspiracy.

Security at the RSS office and nearby areas has been tightened as a precaution. Authorities said they will release detailed findings once the investigation is complete.

Former chief minister Raghubar Das and opposition leader Babulal Marandi condemned the attack and urged swift action to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. Das welcomed the DGP’s decision to form an SIT.

(Inputs from IANS)