Amritsar: A terrorist from Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Narain Singh Chaura, fired at the Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal near the entrance to the Golden Temple, Amritsar on Wednesday. The event was pretty dramatic. However, people’s involvement was able to control it, and nothing drastic happened. Chaura was beaten by the people present there and was then taken away by the police.
While acting as a religious guard at the temple’s entrance on the Akal Takht’s orders for violating the SGPC rule, Sukhbir Singh Badal remained unhurt. In the tapes of the occurrence, Badal, in a blue sewadar attire accompanied by a spear, started to shield himself, seeing Chaura pulling a gun. Temple officials and people in the surroundings did not wait for further escalation succeeding in eliminating the threat.
There is a long history of militia activity in Narain Singh Chaura. Former with Babbar Khalsa International, he escaped to Pakistan in 1984 and was actively involved in bringing weapons and explosives to Punjab. In Pakistan, he wrote books on guerrilla warfare and embezzlement, and subversive literature. Chaura was also accused in the sensational Burail jailbreak in 2004 to help of four under trial, out of which two were assailants of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh of constructing a 94-foot tunnel. He has since been imprisoned in Punjab jail for his activism.
The attack took place a day after Sukhbir Singh Badal started going to the Golden Temple, provided security detail according to orders of the Akal Takht, amended to be the Pope of Sikhs. The directive was issued as part of religious punishment for mistakes during the Shiromani Akali Dal government from 2007 to 2017 with regard to sacrilege and police firing at Kotkapura. However, officers on the ground, including Senior Officer Harpal Singh, maintained that adequate security measures were implemented, and they attributed the secured event to an efficient response from the temple authorities. Chaura’s motives for killing the two priests are not known.
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