Chandigarh blast: Punjab ex-SP Chahal was the target, say police

Former Punjab Police SP Jasjit Singh Chahal was the target of the grenade attack at Sector 10 house on Wednesday, who was described as a ‘trigger-happy inspector’ in the Justice Gurnam Singh Report on 1986 police firing incident, in which four youths were killed.

Chahal was the target as he lived in the house as a tenant a few months ago, a senior Punjab Police officer has confirmed.

While a social media post by US-based gangster-terrorist Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia immediately claimed after the grenade blast that Chahal was the target, but the police was sceptical as Chahal had moved out of the house several months ago.

He had moved after Punjab Police arrested four youths, including Bikramjit Singh, alias Raja Bains and Bawa Singh, in October last year. They had conducted a recce of this house and were close to making a strike when the counter-intelligence wing of the Punjab Police arrested them.

Police sources said ‘Chahal’ was advised to shift his residence. The attackers did not know Chahal had moved out.

Police have claimed that Babbar Khalsa International had planned the conspiracy with Pakistan-based gangster turned terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda and Happy Passia.

The incident has brought the Nakodar firing case into focus again.

In October last year, Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the February 1986 police firing incident.

The families of the victims beside several human rights organisations had alleged that police killed four youths in cold blood.

Baldev Singh, father of one of the slain victims, Harminder Singh, had moved the petition before the High Court. He was the only one left fighting for justice, as relatives of other victims had died since then or backed out.

The Justice Gurnam Singh Commission report submitted in October 1986, had blamed the Jalandhar Police and civil administration for the firing incident.

The firing incident took place on February 4, 1986, on people who were protesting a sacrilege incident in a Nakodar Gurdwara two days earlier. The incident involved the burning of a number of ‘birs’ of Guru Granth Sahib allegedly by some miscreants.

The Commission report indicted the police officials, including Jaskirat Singh Chahal, who was SHO Nakodar then. The report said Chahal had killed Harminder Singh from close range when the boy was taking shelter. The report said, “It is a cold-blooded murder by a public servant.”

Sadly, only the first half of the Commission report was made public while the second half which recommended action against the indicted officials was reported missing. It has not been traced yet.