CHANDIGARH: Security forces gunned down Khalistan Commando Force (Wassan) chief Punjab Singh, alias Chhapa, and his accomplice in Punjab.
A report from Amritsar quoting state police Chief K.P.S. Gill said Punjab Singh, who was responsible for more than 100 killings, including two bus massacres, was shot dead along with his unidentified accomplice in a fierce one hour encounter near Mussa village in Tam Taran police district last week.
Gill said an ASI received minor injuries when the two slain militants, who were moving on a truck, tried to overrun the police party which was meaning the security picket close to the site of encounter.
He said Punjab Singh, who had been active in the militant fold since 1987, and was heading the KCF in the absence of Wassan Singh Zaffarwal who is in Pakistan, had also killed a number of Security personnel.
The DGP said Punjab Singh was trapped in the larger security network which was set following the visit of a large number of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers to Amritsar on the occasion of the diamond jubilee anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh massacre last week. Rigorous anti-militant operations entailing special check points had been set up since the beginning of this month in view of the function, he added.
Gill said Punjab Singh had been active in Uttar Pradesh for the last year-and-a-half and came back to Punjab to reorganize the Zaffarwal group.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 15, 1994
