Chandigarh/amritsar, Feb. 24 -- A day after two Punjab cops were gunned down inside a check post at Adhian village in Dorangla Police Station of Gurdaspur near the international border, the Punjab Police were yet to get a strong lead in the case with possibility of cross-border infiltration from the fenced Pakistan border not being ruled out. Regarding the Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan, the terror group that claimed responsibility for the killings on Sunday evening, DIG (border range) Sandeep Goyal dismissed the hitherto unknown outfit's claims. "This claim is absolutely fake. Still, we are verifying its antecedents. In the past, several such organisations have falsely claimed responsibility after terror attacks only to create fear in society" Goyal said. Investigators are probing whether local gangsters carried out the killings at the behest of foreign handlers, or the attackers came from across the border which is just around 1.5-km from the check post where the crime took place. A senior Punjab official supervising the probe said, "The BSF is denying the infiltration possibility from across the border. But they had denied it during the Dinanagar terrorist attack in 2015 and the Pathankot airbase attack in 2016 as well. There are some vulnerable points near this village because of the riverbed that criss-crosses between India and Pakistan in this area. The terrorist always remain desperate to use this route." The police probe is also focusing upon the role of a module linked with Khalistani terrorist Harvinder Rinda, involving local gangsters. "We are not ruling out the terror angle. Prime facie it looks like a terror act. We have got clues and are hopeful of solving the case soon," said a senior Punjab Police official supervising the probe. Another angle being looked into is the likelihood of gangsters avenging the Punjab Police action against their relatives under the recently launched Operation Prahaar, the official said. Notably, Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti shared a social media clip showing ASI Gurnam Singh being shot point blank. The video features the purported voice of Bhatti endorsing the killings as a "befitting reply" to the Punjab Police for its "fake encounters". The clip remains unverified. Another police official said investigators are also looking into the role of Sukhmeet Pal Singh, alias Sukh Bhikariwal, alias Sunny Toronto, a Khalistan Liberation Force operative based in Canada who allegedly got killed Shaurya Chakra awardee Comrade Balwinder Singh Sandhu in 2020. He had some personal enmity with ASI Gurnam Singh for the past few years over a "family" dispute. "The way killers got the cops killed and filmed it seems an act to create terror among cops the way terror organisation ISIS used to do," another police functionary said. Meanwhile, the Gurdaspur police have recovered a CCTV footage showing five suspects on two motorcycles near the check post on the night of the crime. Special DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla, who was in Amritsar, said, "I have conducted a meeting with BSF officials and discussed the security arrangements in the border belt. The joint police-BSF patrolling has been initiated at night." When asked if was a terror act or linked to Pakistan's spy agency ISI, Shukla said, "We are investigating it. We will share the results with you soon." One of the victims, Ashok Kumar, was cremated in Akhlashpur village falling in Dhariwal sub-division of Gurdaspur district. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann has announced Rs.1 crore each for the families of the deceased police personnel. "The HDFC Bank will provide an additional insurance amount of Rs.1 crore each. We stand with our martyrs and their families," the chief minister said. The bodies of ASI Gurnam Singh and home guard constable Ashok Kumar were found on Sunday morning at a check-post in Adhian village, falling under the Dorangla police station's jurisdiction near a BSF outpost. The incident came to light after the personnel failed to respond to radio and phone calls. Village sarpanch Kamaljit Singh, who was asked by the Dorangla SHO to check the post, discovered the bodies at 8am. The scene suggested the personnel were caught entirely off guard. On Sunday evening, the same video, which was shared by Pakistan gangster Shahzad Bhatti, was circulated in which Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan claimed responsible. The killings have raised questions over the second line of defence of Punjab Police set up along the border to man suspicious activities. The check-post, in which two cops were killed, was created to nab the perpetrators in case the BSF that mans the border fails to do so. "The post was not even having a door. The police make claim regarding a strong night patrolling in the area. But the attackers came, fired six or seven gunshots and disappeared. Many CCTVs installed to keep close watch on activities along the border have failed to give any idea," said a retired Punjab Police official. Locals say the road where the post is situated is called defence road because of heavy presence of BSF post nearby. The movement of unknown persons is not easy on this road. Gurdaspur MP and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah, urging him to conduct an inquiry. At the site of killings, he said to mediapersons, "It was a joint check-post of the Punjab Police and the BSF. BSF personnel did not arrive there last night. It should be investigated. Their CO should be immediately court-martialed. Immediate action should be taken against the SSP here. CCTV visuals show that there were five attackers on two motorcycles...Shouldn't the SHO, DSP, and SSP be held accountable?" Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhary said the room inside in which the cops were found dead was earlier a bus stop. This room does not have any door, she pointed out. Senior BJP leader Tarun Chugh demanded a probe by the NIA. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal mentioned on X, "The killings have sent a clear signal: No one is safe in Punjab."...