Two Indian-born British men — 33-year old Barjinder Singh Sangha and Mandeep Singh Sandhu — appeared in the Westminster magistrates’ court in central London on Monday afternoon.
Sangha, from Wolverhampton, and Sandhu, from Birmingham, had been charged by Scotland Yard with “wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm” on Lieutenant-General Kuldip Singh Brar in Old Quebec Street, London, on September 30.
The two men, dressed identically in grey T-shirts, had large flowing beards and wore navy blue and black turbans.
They only spoke in the court to confirm their names and dates of birth and were provided with a Punjabi interpreter by the court to explain the proceedings.
The court was told that Sangha and Sandhu had “unlawfully and maliciously” injured Lt. Gen. Brar with intent of grievous bodily harm. The Met police had investigated the case as that of an “attempted murder”, but the two men were charged only with “grievous bodily harm”.
Sangha, who is also charged with assaulting Lt. Gen. Brar’s wife Meena by beating, did not make an appeal for bail. However, Sandhu’s lawyer moved a bail application, which was refused by the judge.
The two accused will now be present on December 7 at Southwark crown court where their case will be heard and the trial will commence thereafter. The two men will be the police custody till their trial starts.
Lt. Gen. Brar, who has faced numerous death threats since commanding the controversial Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple Complex in 1984, described it as an assassination attempt by Khalistan-linked extremists. However, no details or reasons for the attack on Lt. Gen. Brar were given in the Westminster magistrates’ court on Monday.
Scotland Yard had arrested 12 suspects in connection with the attack on 78-year-old Lt. Gen. Kuldip Singh Brar (Retd) in central London on Sept. 30. However, it released nine people, including two women, from custody on Saturday on police bail. They will have to present themselves to the police in November.