Beant Singh assassination: Jagtar Singh Tara gets life imprisonment

CHANDIGARH: Convicted for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, Jagtar Singh Tara was on Saturday sentenced to life. The order was passed by a court of additional district and session judge J S Sidhu on Saturday. Tara had confessed to his involvement in the assassination of Beant Singh in 1995. Tara's counsel Simranjit Singh had said that he had admitted to his involvement in the assassination of the former chief minister in a confession letter which he had submitted to the court in January this year.

On August 31, 1995, then chief minister Beant Singh was killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. Punjab police employee Dilawar Singh had acted as a human bomb in the incident. 

Simarjeet had also said that Tara does not regret killing Beant Singh. "Tara told the court that he does not regret killing Beant Singh and also said that he has been fighting the battle of Sikhs' freedom against the Punjab government and will continue to do so," Singh said on Friday.

The lawyer added Tara defended himself by saying, "If by killing a cruel person I can save thousands of innocent people then it is not wrong." Amidst this, pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by Tara's supporters in court.

In his confession, he had also said that Shaheed Udham Singh, who assassinated Lieutenant Governor of Punjab Michael O 'Dwyer in 1919, was his inspiration to kill the Congress leader. 

Reacting to the verdict, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Chief Secretary Roop Singh said: "Jagtar Singh Tara murdered Beant Singh out of emotions and not due to land or property dispute. Murdering someone is bad but he has been given punishment after 22 yrs. It's painful for the Sikh community."