Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
India

Chasing Jagtar Singh Tara: How Mastermind Of Punjab CM Beant Singh's Assassination Was Caught

Darpan News Desk IANS, 29 Nov, 2015 02:35 PM
    Former Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar says that nabbing the mastermind of Punjab chief minister Sardar Beant Singh's assassination was the most dangerous operation he ever undertook.
     
    But as luck would have it, when mastermind Jagtar Singh Tara was tracked to a hideout in south Delhi, he was unarmed -- save a cyanide capsule that was hidden in his turban.
     
    "We were half expecting the men inside to be sitting with Kalashnikov rifles, ready to fire. Instead, to our surprise and relief, we found a tall turbaned Sikh youngster sprawled leisurely in an executive chair," Kumar told IANS in an interview.
     
     
    "Another Sikh, but without a turban, was also seated there, in a relaxed mode. We overpowered them in no time."
     
    The man in turban admitted that he was indeed Tara. This was in September 1995, barely weeks after Beant Singh's assassination in Chandigarh by a suicide bomber shocked the nation.
     
    Beant Singh became chief minister at a time when the Khalistan campaign was at its bloody peak in Punjab. Soon after he took charge of the state, security forces ended the decade-long saga of violence.
     
    Kumar -- then with the Central Bureau of Investigation -- recalled those terse moments in an interview with IANS. "Jagtar Singh Tara's arrest was one of the most risky operations I did."
     
     
    Beant Singh, the chief minister from 1992 to 1995, was killed by the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in a deadly suicide attack on August 31, 1995. Seventeen others were also killed.
     
    Beant Singh had come down from his second floor office around 5.10 p.m. When he was about to get into his car in the VIP porch, the suicide bomber dressed in police uniform, Dilawar Singh, blew himself up.
     
    Explaining the risky factors of the operation to catch Tara, Kumar said: "Tara was reported to be armed. He also had cyanide pill. We were unarmed and were four in number."
     
    A deputy inspector general in the CBI then, Kumar knew that taking on Tara was a dangerous affair. 
     
     
    "My decision to come to this point without a commando unit, without weapons and bullet proof jackets, without cordoning off the entire area, without taking some local residents into confidence, could all backfire, literally, within a matter of seconds.
     
    "All our combined heroism could blow up on our face," Kumar said. 
     
    Assisting Kumar were Assistant Sub-Inspector Anchal Singh, constables Dharambir Singh and Surinder Singh.
     
    They suddenly barged into a shop in a small single-storey municipal market in Safdarjung Enclave in south Delhi. 
     
    That's where they found their prey. "Fortunately, there was no weapon on either of the two men."
     
     
    Kumar's book 'Dial D for Don', which is basically about the Indian underworld after the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai that was blamed on the still fugitive mobster Dawood Ibrahim or "D Company", also has a detailed description about the arrest of Tara. 

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Beef Row: Amit Shah Reprimands BJP 'Motormouths' Over Controversial Remarks

    Beef Row: Amit Shah Reprimands BJP 'Motormouths' Over Controversial Remarks
      The others who faced Modi's wrath were ministers Mahesh Sharma and Sanjeev Baliyan, Lok Sabha member Sakshi Maharaj and Uttar Pradesh legislator Sangeet Som

    Beef Row: Amit Shah Reprimands BJP 'Motormouths' Over Controversial Remarks

    Violence As Truck Attack Victim Dies; Kashmir Bandh Called

    Violence As Truck Attack Victim Dies; Kashmir Bandh Called
    As news of the death in Delhi spread on Sunday, mobs took to the streets in the southern district of Anantnag in the Kashmir Valley and blocked the Jammu-Srinagar highway by burning tyres.

    Violence As Truck Attack Victim Dies; Kashmir Bandh Called

    Why Kerala Is The Best Place To Die In India

    Why Kerala Is The Best Place To Die In India
    Kerala's efforts received a feather in its cap when Singapore-based Lien Foundation praised the state's provision of palliative care for patients with serious illnesses, in its 40-country Quality of Death study recently.

    Why Kerala Is The Best Place To Die In India

    Sikhs Continue Protests In Punjab's Malwa Over Desecration Of Guru Granth Sahib

    Sikhs Continue Protests In Punjab's Malwa Over Desecration Of Guru Granth Sahib
    The protestors blocked roads in Moga and Bathinda districts and demanded action against those involved in the desecration of the Sikh holy book.

    Sikhs Continue Protests In Punjab's Malwa Over Desecration Of Guru Granth Sahib

    5-Year-Old And 2-Year-Old Gang-Raped In Delhi, Kejriwal Questions PM Modi, LG Najeeb Jung

    5-Year-Old And 2-Year-Old Gang-Raped In Delhi, Kejriwal Questions PM Modi, LG Najeeb Jung
    The two-and-a-half-year-old, who was raped by two men in west Delhi's Nangloi area, continued to be in a critical condition on Saturday while the five-year-old was raped by three men in east Delhi's Anand Vihar.

    5-Year-Old And 2-Year-Old Gang-Raped In Delhi, Kejriwal Questions PM Modi, LG Najeeb Jung

    Acid Attack Victims Walk The Ramp In Agra

    Acid Attack Victims Walk The Ramp In Agra
    The unique fashion show was organised by Max, leading international value fashion brand, to celebrate the spirit of 'Sheroes' by launching its festival collection.

    Acid Attack Victims Walk The Ramp In Agra