Santokh Kala was the right hand man of the SSP Amritsar Azhar Alam. On being transferred from Amritsar to Jalandhar, Azar Alam took Kala with him, on being promoted back to Amritsar as the DIG, Azhar Alam could not enjoy the services of Kala since on the very day he joined, Kala was killed by some militant leaders in his house at Sultanpur Vind, in Amritsar.
Inan interview with the Editor of The Illustrated Weekly, Pritish Nandy, Riberio said that Kala along with his wife was killed in his house and that the police was now taking care of his orphaned children,
Kala was a no good vagrant who started going to the Darbar Sahib during the time of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and was associated with the Bhindrawale Tiger Force before becoming a Black Cat. As a result of this he knew the prominent militant leaders especially those who visited the Darbar Sahib. Initially Azhar Alam gave him a car with tinted window, a Thompson machine gun and a Spanish revolver and put him on duty near the Golden Temple. Kala recruited 2025 criminals along with him and on his directions Azhar Alam gave them the name of Panthic Tiger Force was given identification papers of the Alam’s Sena. Panthic Tiger Force was given identification papers of the 25th battalion of the CRPF which bore the purple stamp of the commandant of the 25th battalion.
On Kala’s advice Azhar Alam used the Panthic Tiger Force to grab control of the Gurdwaras. Their first target was Gurdwara Shahidan, where they killed some Granthis and other people. The most prominent among them was Nirwair Singh Bolewal, who was killed right inside the Gurdwara as he vehemently opposed Azhar Alam’s plan to take over the Gurdwaras. They did succeed in taking over the Gurdwara Shahidan but failed in their attempt to take over the Golden Temple. Azhar Alam put Kala in the buildings overlooking the Golden Temple, from where Kala would challenge, taunt and provoke the militants. But despite this he did not succeed in acquiring the control of the Golden Temple till Operation Black Thunder. He also had to leave the Gurdwara Shahidan because of massive public resentment against the activities of Kala, which were being revealed. Azhar Alam was transferred from Amritsar.
Kala and his gang would hover around the Golden Temple and the bus station. Whenever they spotted a militant they would pounce upon him, capture him and dump him at the Mal Mandi torture center. Thus Azhar Alam was able to kill 40-45 m itlants including Lt. General Swaranjit Singh of the Bhindranwale Tiger Force. Two journalists of Washington Times and New Hampshire Sunday News interviewed Kala in Amritsar in March 1988 at the Hotel International in Amritsar. The excerpts of the interviews are given in the White Paper.
Using the special powers given by the police, Kala and his associates extorted money by using letter pads captured from the militants and sending threatening letters on them, and extorting large sums of money. They also started looting vans but when it was widely publicized in the media, Azhar Alam checked them though they continued to prey on the villagers. The second in command of Kala’s gang was Surinder Pal Singh Dhuk.
Police had raided their house often in search of him. Prakash Kaur says that she cannot even remember how often the police took her to the police station.
During one raid on May 5, 1988 Nirwair Singh’s youngest brother Dilbagh Singh hid behind the house. He was the Granthi of the Gurdwara in Baba Bakala, and was apprehensive that the police would kill him like they killed Nirwair Singh. Police saw him and shot him dead on the spot. Police didn’t stop at this. After killing Dilbagh Singh they badly beat up the widow of Nirwair Singh, Manjit Kaur. They dragged her by her hair to a wheat field. When she was almost senseless after one and a half hours of torture they dragged her and threw her on the body of her brother in law Dilbagh Singh and taunted “now get your Khalistan.” Her hands and feet were so badly swollen that she was bedridden for many days. Blood oozed from her scalp.
Sarpanch Dharam Singh’s (the village headman’s) house is near Nirwair Singh’s He and his family were eyewitness to this incident. When they arrived at the scene they were beaten up, threatened by the police and warned against pursuing this matter. Sardar Dharam Singh Sarpanch was beaten so badly that his head started bleeding.
Pritam Singh Balewal is a school teacher and his wife Savinder Kaur, a housewife. The family keeps to themselves but they could still not escape the police brutality. Their house is also on the police raiding list. Their only crime is that Pritam singh is the uncle of Dilbagh Singh, Nirwair Singh and Kulwant Singh. Savinder Kaur has been arrested thrice by the Mehta Chowk police. She has been illegally detained for three nights once and two nights twice. She says that the police humiliate them so badly during the raids and illegal detentions that now even the slightest innocuous sound frightens them as it seems to heralds the police’s arrival.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 6, 1990
