Bail rejected to Beant Singh murder accused

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday rejected the bail application of Shamsher Singh alias Shera, an accused in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassination.

On Tuesday, Shamsher Singh's counsel submitted before Justice S S Sudhalkar that his client's name did not figure in the first information report registered by the Chandigarh police and the Central Bureau of Investigation. No test identification parade was held during the CBI investigation and there was no direct evidence against Shamsher Singh. The CBI had falsely implicated him, the counsel contended.

CBI counsel R K Handa submitted there was direct evidence against the accused. Shamsher Singh was closely associated with Babbar Khalsa militant Jagtar Singh Hawara who conspired with Mehal Singh and Wadhawa Singh, top BK activists (currently in Pakistan), to assassinate Beant Singh, Handa submitted.

Shamsher Singh, Handa continued, helped Hawara in transporting two bags of RDX from a village near Ajnala town in Amritsar district and concealed them at his residence in Patiala district. Subsequently, the RDX was transported to Jhinar Kalan, Ropar district, and stocked at another accused's residence. It was later used in preparing the bomb that killed Beant Singh and 17 others, the CBI counsel said.

Shamsher Singh had, in his confessional statement, admitted his association with Hawara and to transporting the RDX bags, Handa submitted.

UNI