CNANDIGARH, India, April 10, (Reuter): Police said they foiled an attempt by three people to kill peace marchers led by film star Sunil Dutt as they passed through the North Indian State of Punjab.
Police yesterday said they had arrested three people who planned to attack the marchers and Hindus joining them at a meeting in Phagwara town.
Jullundur city Police Inspector P.C. Dogra told reporters that these men wanted to kill Hindus, to teach Dutt a lesson.
Dutt, 54, has defied death threats, allegedly from freedom fighters fighting for a separate Sikh homeland in Punjab and is walking from India’s movie capital Bombay to Sikhdom’s holiest shrine the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
He is scheduled to reach Amritsar on Sunday. Police said yesterday they could not guarantee his safety inside the sprawling temple complex where freedom fighters move freely.
Police said they have arrested another six people since Wednesday in the Sikh majority State where 38 people have been killed in violence this month.
Dutt, a household name in India, vowed to continue his crusade despite the threats.
“We must all work untidily to put an end to what has been happening in’ Punjab,” he told reporters yesterday.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1987
