CHANDIGARH: The CBI Feb, 1st brought here Jagiar Singh Hawara, the ‘prime suspect in the Beant Singh assertion case, from Delhi and produced him before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr. Shekhar Dhawan.

‘The JP remanded him in judicial lockup till February 10.

McR.K. Handa and Mr. Ranjan Malhotra, counsel! For the GBI, told the court that although the investigating agency had filed the charge sheet, in: vestigations in the case was (ill in progress, the investigating agency planned to file « supplementary charge sheet against Hawara.

‘An activist of the Babbar Khalsa militant outfit, Hawara’ was arrested from the Jalandhar bus stand on December 29 by the Punjab Police. Later his custody was taken by the Haryan Police for questioning in 4 case registered by it.

Hawara was taken to Delhi by the CBI ‘on January 25. He was remanded in judicial lockup and was lodged at Tihar Jail.

The number of suspects arrested by the Punjab Police and Chandigarh Police from different places has go no up to eight. They are Gurmeet Singh, Balwant Singh, Lakhvinder Singh, Jagtar Singh Jagtar Singh Hawara and Navjot Singh.

All these suspects were jointly interrogated by the Punjab and Chandigarh Police and the CBI at the local office of the CBI, They were later remanded in judicial lockup, and they are now lodged at Burail Jail.

Mr. Beant Singh was killed outside the Punjab and Haryana Secretariat on August 31, the mystery surrounding the assassination was cracked by the Chandigarh Police on a tipoff by the painter who had given a coat of paint to the Ambassador car which was used by the suspects in perpetrating the crime.

It was again the Chandigarh Police that had arrested Lakhvinder Singh, a Punjab Police constable, Navjot Singh and Gurmeet Singh. Their sustained interrogation by the Punjab and Chandigarh Police gave a clue to the whereabouts of other suspects.

Hawara, who masterminded the plot about killing Beant Singh, had been active in Ropar district when the militancy was at its peak. He is believed to have been involved in more than two dozen murders in Punjab.

Mr, Sharad Kumar, DIG (CBI) who is monitoring the case, said that they planned to proceed with the investigation on a day today basis so that the trial could be over as possible.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 7, 1996