The man killed in the Ludhiana district court complex blast is learnt to have been identified as a dismissed Punjab police head constable.

Gagandeep Singh was a resident of Khanna in Ludhiana and dismissed from the post of head constable in a drug case, police sources said.

Police had earlier said they suspected that the man killed in the blast was trying to assemble or plant the explosive device.

Gagandeep’s family in Khanna is also learnt to have identified him, the sources said. His SIM card is believed to have helped in his identification.

He was dismissed from service in 2019, sources added.

A bomb went off in the district courts complex in Ludhiana on Thursday, killing one and injuring six, prompting the Punjab government to declare a high alert in the state.

Ludhiana police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar had earlier in the day claimed that they had got some important clues, which would prove useful in cracking the case.

Police had said preliminary probe had revealed that the deceased was either a carrier of the explosive or a human bomb himself. He had a religious tattoo on one of his arms.

A mobile phone has also been recovered from the debris, police said.