New Delhi: All the three accused in the Indira Gandhi’s murder case have been sentenced to death by Judge Mahesh Chander. The trial was held in a specially created court inside the Tihar jail in Delhi. It was not open to the public and there was no jury. Satwant Singh, who was posted in the security wing at the residence of the late Prime Minister, was alleged to have fired from his service submachine gun at Indira Gandhi along with S. Beant Singh. S. Beant Singh was later killed in the guard room by other security men. Kehar Singh, a civil servant, and Balbir Singh a police guard at Indira’s residence, were tried for conspiracy to murder and found guilty.
The defense counsel Mr. P. N. Lekhi had stated that the trial was a farce as the accused had already been declared guilty by the Indian Press and government owned Television and Radio. He went to the extent of charging that the whole story of murder was a well-conceived drama in which only time fact was the death of Indira Gandhi. All else was pure concoction.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1986
