Beant Singh case: SC seeks CBI`s reply

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday sought response from the CBI on a petition moved by Babbar Khalsa terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, the mastermind in the sensational killing of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, challenging his conviction and life imprisonment.

A bench comprising justices B S Chauhan and S A Bobde issued notice to the agency on the appeal filed by Hawara against the October, 12, 2010 judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court had commuted the death penalty of Hawara and sentenced him to life imprisonment "till death", holding that it was a borderline case for capital punishment. However, the CBI on December 5, 2011 had moved the apex court seeking death penalty for him saying the offence falls under the category of `rarest of rare` cases. While pressing for death penalty, the agency had said it was a most serious offence where 17 people were killed including a chief minister of a state and 15 were injured. The high court had upheld the death sentence given by the trial court to Balwant Singh while confirming the life sentence of three others--Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh. Suicide bomber Dilawar Singh and his accomplices killed 73-year-old Beant Singh in a blast on August 31, 1995 at the entrance of the 10-storeyed civil secretariat at Chandigarh in which 17 others were also killed. Dilawar Singh too was killed in the explosion. PTI