Reopen probe into artiste Chamkila murder case: BJP

Amritsar, July 3

BJP leader Jagmohan Singh Raju on Wednesday urged Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to reopen investigation into the murder of Dalit artiste Amar Singh Chamkila.

In a communiqué to the CM, he said the investigation should be handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA). He said if the government was short of funds, he would offer Rs 5 lakh award to the informer from his own pocket.

He said recently, the NIA had announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh to the person who would give information regarding Goldy Brar, the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. Similarly, Punjab Congress chief and Ludhiana MP Raja Warring urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to bring his killers to book.

“I make an equally fervent appeal to you regarding an unsolved case of murder of another renowned artiste Amar Singh Chamkila who was brutally murdered along with his wife at a very young age of 28 years in 1988. His murderers remain scot free till date,” he said.

“Can Chamkila be denied justice simply because he was a Dalit?” he said, urging the CM to reopen investigation into the case of murder of Chamkila and hand over the investigation to the National Investigating Agency .

He said if the government did not have enough funds to announce a cash reward for providing information about his killer, he was willing to contribute Rs 5 lakh towards the reward amount.