CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress (I) vice president and former state minister Darshan Singh Kaypee and his bodyguard were shot dead by militants on the outskirts of Jalandhar city on Oct.12.
Police said two militants on an Enfield motorcycle drew parallel to Kaypee’s Maruti car rear Kuki ki Dhab on Mithapur-Khurla Kingra road and opened fire from an assault rifle killing Kaypee and his bodyguard, Constable Ashok Kumar, on the spot, The Congress leader was returning home to his model town residence in the city from his farmhouse at Mithapur village.
The scheduled Punjab cabinet meeting of Wednesday has been cancelled and a holiday declared in all Punjab government offices, public sector undertakings and educational institutions throughout the state on Oct.13.
Elsewhere in Punjab three militants were among five persons killed, one person was kidnapped and one militant surrendered to the authorities.
Four grand children of Darshan Singh, whose son Mohinder Singh Kaypee is Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Beant Singh government, and the car drivers were unhurt in the attack, family sources said.
Driver Ramesh, who suffered minor bruises in the process of racing away from the killers, drove the car with the bleeding victims to Kaypee’s residence in Model Town, family friends said.
Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh has expressed shock at the dastardly killing.
He said it has a ghastly action by the militant borne out of sheer frustration. He reiterated his government’s determination not to allow the disruptive and secessionist forces to succeed in their designs, Punjab Assembly Speaker Harcharan Singh Ajnala has expressed his deep grief.
The Speaker said Kaypee had dedicated his whole life for the social and economic uplift of the poor and down trodden, These people will always remember his services, he added. Situation in the civil hospital and around has become tense following the killing.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1992
