The CBI today moved the Supreme Court seeking death penalty for Babbar Khalsa terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, the mastermind in the sensational killing of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, saying the offence falls under the category of ‘rarest of rare’ cases.
The agency has approached the apex court challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court judgment which had commuted the death penalty of Hawara on October 12, 2010 and had sentenced him to life imprisonment "till death", holding that it was a borderline case for capital punishment.
"We are pressing for death penalty on the grounds that the case fall under the category of 'rarest of rare' cases. It was a most serious offence where 17 people were killed including a chief minister of a state and 15 were injured," Additional Solicitor General Harin P Raval said.
"The role of Balwant Singh (a co-accused) was lesser than that of Hawara. This man was the kingpin who planned the entire conspiracy," Raval said.
The high court had upheld the death sentence given by the trial court to Balwant Singh while confirming the life sentence of three others — Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh.
Suicide bomber Dilawar Singh and his accomplices killed 73-year-old Beant Singh in a blast on August 31, 1995 at the entrance of the 10-storeyed civil secretariat at Chandigarh in which 17 others were also killed. Dilawar Singh too was killed in the explosion.