CHANDIGARH: The human bomb involved in the assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, here on August 31, has been identified as Dilawar Singh alias Billa, who was dismissed from service in 1994 as a Special Police Officer (SPO), attached with the Punjab Police.

Dilawar Singh was a classmate of Gurmeet Singh, the engineer who prepared the bomb and both were residents of Guru Nanak Nagar, Patiala, Sources said that before his dismissal from service Tast year, Dilawar Singh was attached to Paramraj Singh, SP (Operations) at Patiala who, incidentally, is the grandson of former Akali leader, Jiwan Singh Umranangal. The SP has, however, denied that the accused was ever attached to him. ‘The details regarding the address and references given by Dilawar Singh are not available in police records. It is also not known as to who recruited him at Fatehgath Sahib. Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder ‘Singh, a Punjab Police driver who was earlier attached to a Punjab MP, were nabbed here and remanded to police custody for nine days as of Sept.6th, The fourth conspirator, who is absconding, has been identified as Balwant ‘Singh, a Punjab Police personnel, who was a gun man to a Patiala based newsman, Bhushan Sarhindi till recently. He had last met Sarhindi in August. Police sources said they were also looking into the possibility of his being the human bomb.

The identity of the fifth accused, the alleged mastermind behind the assassination is not yet known. However, sources indicated that this could be a militant called Rajbir Singh of Makoror village in Ropar district who had reportedly gone away earlier to the United States. Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed sources the Chandigarh Police nabbed one more accused later.

The two arrested alleged conspirators have admitted to having allegiance to the Babbar Khalsa, which had claimed responsibility for the bomb blast but had said that the bomb was placed in the dickey of the car of the slain Chief Minister, Sources say that the statement may have been made deliberately to deflect investigations. Significantly, none of the main accused had any past criminal record and could be fresh recruits to the underground organization.

Dilawar Singh, a matriculate in his early 20s, was wearing a police uniform and had strapped an explosive belt which was triggered off by him, according to investigators. Both Dilawar Singh and Gurmeet Singh, who were well known to each other, had short hair and would generally tie a turban.

Sources said that Dilawar Singh’s father had identified the parts of the unclaimed body lying at the PGI here, All that remained of the human bomb was parts of the two legs and the skull.

‘The identification was based on half burnt socks and a sport shoe. The security agencies have also conducted DNA test on the parts of the body, sources said and added that experts from the Hyderabad based Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology and collected ‘samples for testing. The parents of Dilawar Singh are missing from their residence in Patiala since the day after the bomb explosion. They told the neighbors before leaving, that they were going to their native village to settle a dispute. Dilawar Singh’s father, like that of Gurmeet Singh, is an employee of the Punjabi University. The police broke open the house and is reported to have seized some documents. The family had been staying there, merely 100 yards from the house of Gurmeet Singh, for the last 22 years.

Gummeet Singh’s residence at Patiala was also raided by the police, His parents, when contacted, denied that they had any inkling about the involvement of their only son in the bomb explosion. They, however, appeared calm and composed.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 15, 1995