Gurdaspur Hospital Blast: Who is Manu Agwan? The BKI Commander Behind Gurdaspur’s Grenade Trail–North Desk EXCLUSIVE

Gurdaspur Hospital Blast: Manu Agwan, the ‘gangster’ who reportedly claimed Tuesday’s hospital blast in Kalanaur has been named in an attack in the same area earlier too — and intelligence agencies say he now runs the Babbar Khalsa International’s India operations from abroad

Arvind Chhabra

Chandigarh, June 3

A grenade exploded at Multani Hospital in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur in Punjab (a district bordering Pakistan), on Tuesday afternoon, shattering glass and windowpanes of the emergency ward. Within six hours, police arrested a suspect. But the man who ordered the attack remains thousands of kilometres away — in Europe — and has been doing so for years.

Jaswinder Singh, alias Baghi, alias Manu Agwan, claimed responsibility for the June 3 Gurdaspur Hospital blast on social media. He has done this before. Multiple times. And each time, Punjab Police have arrested ground-level operatives while Manu Agwan has continued operating — from Greece, or, according to more recent intelligence, from Germany.

And he had allegedly involved in an attack just months ago—he allegedly directed that grenade attack in the same Kalanaur area, according to Punjab police sources.

The Bakshiwal blast

A blast took place at Police Post Bakshiwal in Gurdaspur in the night of December 18-19, 2024 — an explosion that investigators said was aimed at killing police personnel. Now, that police post falls in the same Kalanaur police station—the same area that witnessed Tuesday’s blast.

A farmer Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga belonging to Baleem village in Gurdaspur was arrested under UAPA and the Explosives Act in connection with the incident.

Police records contain the disclosure statement of a co-accused, Gursewak Singh alias Moula, which describes in detail how the attack was planned. According to the statement, Manu Agwan — identified in the document as “Manu r/o Agwan who had been abroad” — gave the operational instruction to throw the bomb at Police Post Bakshiwal after conducting a recce.

The statement also describes how operatives demonstrated the grenade’s mechanism in a field, where Jagdeep Singh and Gursewak Singh were applying fertilizers, and how Manu Agwan’s instructions were passed through an operative named Varinder Singh alias Ravi.

Who is Manu Agwan

Jaswinder Singh was born in Agwan village, Gurdaspur — the same village that gave him his alias. Son of Satnam Singh, he studied only up to Class XI before leaving India for Greece, where, according to Punjab Police records, he came into contact with Khalistan Zindabad Force militants Fateh Singh Baghi and Ranjit Singh Jammu through social media.

That contact changed his trajectory. He adopted the alias Baghi — a nod to Fateh Singh Baghi — and gradually became operational within the BKI-KZF terror-criminal ecosystem, working under the overall supervision of Pakistan-based BKI mastermind Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, who operates with the backing of Pakistan’s ISI.

Punjab Police flagged him among among 28 Most Wanted Gangsters. Police have announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on anyone giving information leading to his arrest. He was also named among most wanted under Operation Prahar, launched earlier by the Punjab Police to target foreign-based handlers directing violence in Punjab.

Intelligence assessments described him as the mastermind behind a series of grenade attacks, including attacks specifically targeting Punjab Police.

From foot soldier to operational commander

Gurdaspur Hospital Blast: Manu Agwan’s elevation within BKI accelerated after April last year, when the FBI arrested Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia — then BKI’s most active field commander for India operations — in Sacramento, California. With Happy Passia in US custody, BKI needed a replacement. Manu Agwan stepped into that role, police sources believe.

According to Punjab Police assessments cited in an intelligence analysis at the time, Manu Agwan assumed operational command of BKI’s India network following Happy Passia’s arrest, working in tandem with another handler, Maninder Billa, who allegedly operated from Malaysia, under the overall direction of Rinda in Pakistan.

The attacks attributed to Manu Agwan in the months after that transition illustrate the operational tempo he has maintained:

In April 2025, police posts at Badshahpur in Patiala and Azeemgarh in Haryana were hit by grenades within days of each other. Three BKI operatives were arrested by Counter Intelligence Patiala and the State Special Operation Cell. The Punjab police claimed both attacks were executed on instructions from Manu Agwan and Maninder Billa, under Rinda’s direction.

Also in April 2025, Punjab Police dismantled another ISI-backed BKI module in Batala, Gurdaspur — the same district as Tuesday’s attack. That operation, which came after an encounter, led to six arrests and recovered an RPG launcher, two pistols, ammunition, and three vehicles. The module was allegedly directed by Manu Agwan.

In May 2025, the Chandigarh Crime Branch arrested a BKI operative, Harwant Singh alias Harry, who was described by police as a logistics conduit in a network involving Manu Agwan, Happy Passia, and Rinda.

In July 2025, Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested operatives in connection with the grenade attack on Quila Lal Singh police station in Batala — and a social media post claiming that attack was uploaded by BKI operatives including Manu Agwan.

Gurdaspur Hospital Blast: The Kalanaur pattern

Gurdaspur Hospital Blast: What is striking about Manu Agwan’s operational record is its geographic concentration. The Bakshiwal Police Post blast of December 2024 falls under PS Kalanaur. Tuesday’s Gurdaspur hospital attack in Kalanaur is the same jurisdiction. The Batala module busted in April 2025 — also Gurdaspur district.

This is Manu Agwan’s home district. The operational familiarity — local recruiters, established channels, ground-level contacts — appears to be a deliberate advantage.

Passport details and evasion

Punjab Police records show Manu Agwan holds two Indian passports — one expired and a reissued document. He entered Europe ostensibly for work or settlement and has since evaded all efforts at extradition or location. While earlier intelligence placed him in Greece, more recent assessments have pointed to Germany, suggesting he has moved to stay ahead of tracking efforts.

He openly posts on social media claiming responsibility for attacks — a psychological strategy, police sources say, designed to amplify fear, recruit, and signal capability to both his handlers in Pakistan and potential recruits in Punjab.

The ground reality

Tuesday’s arrest of a suspect in the Gurdaspur hospital blast follows a now-familiar pattern — a young, low-profile operative, recruited for logistics or execution, is picked up within hours. The handler who gave the instruction remains abroad and claims the strike on social media.

Manu Agwan, for now, remains in Europe. The grenades keep going off in Gurdaspur.

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