COURTESY HT OCT 17

Shaurya Chakra awardee who fought terrorism in Punjab shot dead
Tarn Taran attack: Left leader Balwinder Singh’s security had been withdrawn

Balwinder Singh Sandhu
Surjit Singh

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Tarn Taran : Two motorcycle-borne men on Friday shot dead Left leader and Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who fought against terrorism in Punjab in the ’90s, at Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district, months after the government withdrew his security cover.

Balwinder, 60, was at home when the assailants pumped six bullets into him around 7am and fled, police said.

A Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) district committee member, he was on the hit list of terrorist outfits. Balwinder’s family runs Evergreen Senior Secondary School in Bhikhiwind, once a terror hotspot, and his residence is on its premises.

“The footage of the CCTV installed on the gate of the school shows two bike-borne youths covering their faces stopping at the gate. One of them gets down and knocks on the gate. When Balwinder shows up, he opens indiscriminate fire and the duo flees,” said Dhruman H Nimbale, Tarn Taran SSP, who rushed to the spot to examine the crime scene. He was taken to the hospital where doctors declared him “brought dead”.

The SSP said an FIR was registered at the Bhikhiwind police station under section 302/34 (murder by more than one person) of the IPC.

“When my husband got down from the first floor to open the outer gate, we heard gunshots and found him in a pool of blood”, said Jagdish Kaur, Balwinder’s wife.

Capt sets up SIT

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh condoled Balwinder’s death and set up a special investigation team headed by Ferozepur deputy inspector general to probe the killing. The chief minister said the SIT will probe the killing, taking all possibilities into account. The guilty will not be spared, he added.

Balwinder had fought against terrorism in the state for years, facing scores of terror attacks during the height of Khalistani militancy.