Seven linked with Punjab militancy given death penalties

Chandigarh, July 31 (UNI) So far seven people related to terrorist activities linked with Punjab militancy have been awarded death penalties by the law courts in the country.

Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh were sentenced to death by the Special CBI Court at the high security Burial Jail today in the Beant Singh assassination case after a lengthy trial which lasted for over 11 years and in which over 200 witnesses were examined and cross examined. Mr Beant Singh, the then Chief Minister of Punjab alongwith 16 others were killed in a powerful bomb explosion triggered by human bomber Dilawar Singh outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995.

Hawara was the main conspirator in the case who planned the assassination and was responsible for arranging the explosives from Pakistan, where BKI chief Wadhawa Singh is based. Balwant Singh, a dismissed Punjab Police constable had helped the human bomber breach the security ring outside the Civil Secretariat and had driven Dilawar to the Secretariat.

After militantcy took a firm grip in Punjab, Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, who were found guilty in the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were the first ones to be hanged. They were hanged at Delhi's Tihar jail in the late 1980's.

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