CHANDIGARH: Militants freed an under trial associate of the Babbar Khalsa after gunning down a sub-inspector in a daylight operation carried out with military precision inside the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).
At least four in number the militants attacked the three policemen escorting Harvinder Singh alias Taini in a ward in the physiotherapy department when the doctors were attending on him.
Sub-inspector Amarjit Singh (40) and Constable Harpinder Singh two stunned to react immediately were seriously injured. The militants overpowered the third constable and with no time escaped with Taini.
The incident took place at about 10:20am. 40minutes before Beant Singh was to take oath as the Punjab Chief minister at Raj Bhawan a few kilometers away from the PGI. Almost the entre police force had been concentrating on making security arrangements round the Raj Bhawan as also for the newly elected legislators for the last few days Harvinder Singh along with two other under trials had been brought from Burailail to the PGI for treatment escorted by nine Policemen. Inside the PGI the police party had divided itself into groups of three for each militant.
While Harvinder Singh was being attended to inside a physiotherapy ward the militants in a quick action overpowered the constable on guard at the doors entered the ward fired a few shots from close range on the sub-inspector and the constable holding the handcuff chain
Amarjeet Singh received a bullet in the neck and another just near the heart. According to an eyewitness he made a vain attempt 10 pull out his revolver a5 he collapsed. The militants took the hand cuff keys from the SIs pocket before escaping with the “hand cuffed” Harvinder Singh.
According to the police militant probably used a 9 mm pistol. One of them carries a rifle stood guard at the door during the operation.
The sub-inspector who was on deputation from the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) was immediately attended to by a physiotherapist before being rushed to the emergency ward where he later died. Constable Harpinder Singh is recovering in the emergency ward.
The militants did not fire on the PGI staff or the patients but the shooting created panic. Shocked Patients and the PGI staff members ran helter-skelter and many went into hiding. Staff members complained that none of the PGI authorities had visited the ward even two hours after the incident.
The body of the sub-inspector was sent to his village. Dud dike in Faridkot district after the postmortem.
Harvinder Singh was arrested by the Chandigarh Police on February 28 last year near Dhillon cinema barrier after he along with two others had snatched a Maruti car from industrial area. While his accomplices had consumed cyanide. Taini remained in police custody to face trial under the Terrorists and Disruptive (prevention) Activities Act (TADA). For some time Harvinder Singh had succeeded in convincing the police that he was completely in foment youth and just happened to be with the others when he was caught. His links with Babbar Khalsa were confirmed only when a relative of the former union Home Minister Buta Singh was rapped and kidnappers claiming to be members of Babbar Khalsa demanded his release
About 20 minutes after the incident the police the paramilitary forces and the army surrounded the PGI. Senior police officers including the Senior Superintendent of Police S.S.Saini reached the PGI. Searchers were carried out inside the PGI but it was too late. Those who happened to be inside the PGI at that time were allowed to leave after frisking. The cordon around the PGI was lifted after about two hours.
A police spokesman said a white Maruti van (DAE 5183) used in the scene was later found abandoned a few kilometers away in Nayagram village Around the time of the incident some persons forcibly two away a brown scooter from Nayagram but no official information was available about the scooter.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 13, 1992
