RAWALPINDI, Oct 7: The flour mill owner at Wah Cantonment, which was attacked allegedly by militants on Saturday evening, had received a call from unidentified people demanding a large sum of money a few days back, it has been learnt.

Mohammad Saeed, the owner of Shah Flour Mills located on Wah-Bhattar Road, confirmed that his nephew Abdul Qayyum Sethi, who also owns a flour mill, had received the threat call. “The caller demanded money and threatened Mr Sethi that he would be eliminated if the demand was not met,” he added.

Accoring to Mr Saeed, two motorbike riders pulled up outside the mill and threw a hand grenade into the premises, injuring Mohammad Ramzan, 21, an employee.

Mr Saeed said the mill owner did not report the incident to the police but informed his nephew, Abdul Samad about it. He said no security had been provided by the police since the mill was targeted.

A senior police official, when contacted, confirmed that the mill owner, who left for Saudi Arabia on Saturday night to perform Haj, hadreceived a threat call a few days back but did not report it to the police.

He said the police had launched an investigation into the incident. “We will contact Mr Qayyum as soon as he reaches Saudi Arabia to get details of the incident. After getting the details, the police will try to trace the caller,” the officer said, adding that it would be too early to confirm whether the call was made by militants. Besides the bomb disposal experts, City Police Officer Azhar Hameed Khokhar visited the scene of crime and collected some evidence on Sunday.

Police have also taken some people into custody in connection with the investigation but none of them is charged.

According to preliminary police report, it was a low intensity explosive device.

It may be noted that two incidents had been reported to the city police in the recent past. In one of them, an explosive device was thrown into the clinic of a doctor near Racecourse on Peshawar Road while in the other, a suspicious object was attached to the gate of the house of a businessman from Mohmand Agency who is settled in the garrison city.

Both the doctor and businessman had been receiving threat calls from the outlawed TTP.