The Supreme Court has paved the way for the trial of three alleged accomplices of Babbar Khalsa militant Jagtar Singh Hawara in connection with the assassination case of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.
A bench led by Justice TS Thakur allowed a request made by an Additional Sessions Judge from Chandigarh to receive trial records from the top court where the appeals by Hawara and CBI are pending.
While Hawara has challenged his conviction and life imprisonment in the case, CBI has sought death penalty for him.
The bench directed the court registry to send case records back to the Chandigarh Sessions Court for initiation of trial against co-accused Jagtar Singh Tara, Paramjeet Singh Bheora and Devi Singh, who were absconding when the trial against Hawara and others took place.
In 2004, Hawara had escaped from maximum security jail at Burail in Punjab along with Tara, Bheora and Devi Singh by digging a 90-feet tunnel with bare hands.
Hawara and Bheora were re-arrested within the next two years. Tara, a proclaimed offender in this case, was arrested from Thailand in January this year. Devi Singh is absconding.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had commuted Hawara’s death penalty and sentenced him to life imprisonment till death in the case in 2010.
