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CBI seeks capital punishment

Special Correspondent

For assassins of Beant Singh

Cites judgment in Parliament attack case as a precedent
Defence lawyers allege being manhandled

CHANDIGARH: Citing the judgment passed in the case related to the attack on the Parliament House complex, the Central Bureau of Investigation has sought capital punishment for five out of the six convicted by a Chandigarh Court for assassinating the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, in 1995.

Seventeen others were also killed in the suicide attack.

Deferred

Meanwhile, the special court, presided over by Additional Sessions Judge R.K. Sondhi, deferred till Monday its decision to announce the sentences to the convicts as the defence lawyers expressed their inability to argue the case after they were allegedly manhandled by the police and jail authorities.

The lawyers, while charging that they had been “indecently frisked and manhandled,” sought more time as they were not in a “sound frame of mind.”

Talking to reporters outside the premises of the high-security Burail jail, where the convicts have been lodged and the special court held trial since 1996, CBI counsel S.K. Saxena said that barring Naseeb Singh, the prosecution sought capital punishment for all the other convicts.

“Like in the Parliament attack case, in which Afzal Guru got the death sentence, they too carried out a pre-planned and cold-blooded attack. They should also be awarded capital punishment,” said Mr. Saxena.

He also disclosed that Navjot Singh, who was acquitted, was taken to Delhi on Friday night, as a case was pending against him there.

Mediapersons, relatives of the accused, and sympathisers on both sides of the case, were not allowed entry to the special court. “Need to maintain conducive atmosphere” was cited as the reason for the security arrangements.

On Friday, the special court convicted Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh under Sections 302, 307 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code while Naseeb Singh was held guilty under the Explosives Substances Act.

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