Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the main accused in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, on Monday admitted that he connected wire to the bomb fixed on the body of Dilawar Singh, who finally executed the fatal explosion. Tara was arrested in Thailand in 2015 after spending 20 years on the run.
CHANDIGARH – Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the main accused in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, on Monday admitted that he connected wire to the bomb fixed on the body of Dilawar Singh, who finally executed the fatal explosion.
Tara was arrested in Thailand in 2015 after spending 20 years on the run.
Tara made this confession during the ongoing hearing in the court of additional district and sessions judge JS Sidhu where he recorded his statements under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
He also admitted that he had performed ‘ardas’ (prayer) before they all executed the assassination plan.
The CBI counsel put up 20 questions to Tara. Responding to these, he stated that on August 31, 1995, he along with Rajoana went to the chief minister’s residence to know whether he was there or not.
He added later they went to Mohali to pick up Dilawar Singh where he connected the wire of bomb to the body of Dilawar Singh and also performed ‘ardas’.
Tara stated that he and Dilwar Singh then went to the Punjab secretariat in a car and Rajoana followed them on a scooter. He said the car was parked near the Haryana secretariat and he left the place immediately. Thereafter, Rajoana met him for a few minutes and he also left the place.
The matter will now come up for hearing on January 16 when the court will continue recording his statements in the Burail jail.
Beant Singh was killed in an explosion outside the civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Dilawar Singh, a Punjab police employee, had acted as a human bomb in the incident.
The police had arrested nine accused in the case, out of which the fate of eight has already been decided.
The witnesses’ evidence in the case is over, with all 248 witnesses having recorded their statements. The case is pending since Tara was on the run for around 20 years and was arrested from Thailand in 2015.
