CHANDIGARH: Bibi Jawahar Kaur, now in the custody of the Criminal investigation department, Patiala, alleged that the Babbar Khalsa International chief, Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Babbar, was taken away by the police at 1:30 a.m. on August 8 from her Patiala residence, His death in an “encounter” was announced by the director-general of Punjab police, K.P.S .Gill, on the morning of August 9, The alleged encounter was shown in the Amloh police station area,
Bibi Jawanar Kaur told a newsman who visited the C.I.A. headquarters to interview a former B.K.I. activist Gurdeep Singh Sibia that the death of the B.K.I. chief took place in a fake encounter. “We were asleep on the first floor of the house when we were woken up by repeated ringing of the doorbell. He went downstairs to answer the bell and never returned,” she added.
Bibi Jawahar Kaur made these remarks in a hushed tone in the absence of a senior police official who had remained present throughout except for when he had gone to attend a telephone call,
Bibi Jawahar Kaur did not conceal husband-wife relationship with the B.K.I. chief. She even admitted that they had a three year-old son, too. She said in the peculiar circumstances of the case they never formalized the marriage, Bibi Jawahar Kaur belonged to Nabha and was a religious singer. They met at Jalandhar for the first time in 1985. They started living in a small, rented house in Avtar Nagar, Jalandhar, and stayed there for three years until they moved to Patiala in 1988,
Bibi Jawahar Kaur also said that Jathedar Sukhdev Singh lived under cover as a civil contractor although he seldom ventured out to perform any such function. In the neighborhood he was known as a contractor. No one visited him nor any one telephoned him. Evidently, he neither gave out his telephone number nor the house number to any one. “It is not a question of trusting colleagues in the B.K.I. but it is a question of security,” she said.
She refuted police-sponsored reports that Jathedar Sukhdev Singh lived a luxurious life or had electronics goods aplenty. “Things like a television set, a V.C.R. or kitchen gadgetry is normal and every one in our neighborhood had these goods. As for a fax machine fitted to the telephone, it should cause no surprise because a militant with international connections is bound to have such a facility.”
Jawahar Kaur said that the militant leader left for undisclosed places and remained absent for as long as one month to plan and carry out militant activities. It is false that she ever look him away to Shimla or Delhi for an outing and shopping. “However, once I accompanied him to Chandigarh, While he was busy elsewhere, I did some shopping for the child,”
Bibi Jawahar Kaur said that Jathedar Sukhdev Singh was aman of simple habits. He had no love for worldly goods. He rarely watched television or the V.C.R. He would read Punjabi newspapers and journals as well as religious books. He also played with the child. At times he would mend some of the house hold gadgets, He seldom went for a walk. At best he would stand at the gate and exchange “sat siri Akal” with passers-by. She herself would do a bit of socializing in the neighborhood while he stayed indoors. No one from his family visited them. Once or twice her mother came to the house. They organized four functions in four years, one such function was a bhog to pray for the peace of Jathedar Sukhdev Singhs mother who died some lime ago.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 4, 1992
