Sentence deferred in Beant Singh assassination case till July 30

A Chandigarh court on Saturday deferred pronouncement of the quantum of sentence for the six convicts in connection with the assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh to July 30.

Chandigarh, July 28 : A Chandigarh court on Saturday deferred pronouncement of the quantum of sentence for the six convicts in connection with the assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh to July 30.

The verdict, which came almost twelve years after the assassination took place, the special court of Additional Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi on Friday, acquitted one of the accused Navjot Singh.

Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Another accused Naseeb Singh was held guilty under the Explosives Substances Act.

The trial, which had been going on since 1996 at a special courtroom set up inside the Burail prison complex, had ended in June this year.

When the case was in progress, three accused had escaped through a 108-foot long tunnel in January 2004. Two of them were later arrested.

Beant Singh and 16 others were killed in a suicide bomb explosion carried out by Dilawar Singh near the high security Punjab secretariat complex here on August 31, 1995.

A charge sheet was filed in May 1996, nine months after the incident took place. The court examined and cross-examined around 250 witnesses during the trial.

ANI