Beant Singh assassination: Jagtar Tara gets life imprisonment

Additional district and sessions court on Saturday has issued a 'life imprisonment' against Jagtar Singh Tara, convicted in the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

"Jagtar Singh Tara murdered Beant Singh out of emotions and not due to land or property dispute. Murdering someone is bad but he has been given punishment after 22 yrs. It's painful for family as well as Sikh community," Roop Singh, Chief Secretary, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) told ANI after the verdict was pronounced on the same.

Earlier today, Jagtar Singh Tara's lawyer Simarjeet Singh said that the former defended himself by saying, "If by killing a cruel person I can save thousands of innocent people then it is not wrong."

Amidst this, pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by Tara's supporters.

A court here on Friday held Tara guilty of assassinating Singh in a bomb explosion that left 17 persons dead.

Tara had earlier confessed to the court three times that he has no regret for killing the former Punjab Chief Minister. In his confession, he has also said that Shaheed Udham Singh, who assassinated Lieutenant Governor of Punjab Michael O'Dwyer in 1919, was his inspiration to kill the Congress leader.

On August 31, 1995, Singh was killed in an explosion outside the Punjab and Haryana Secretariat. Punjab Police official Dilawar Singh acted as a human bomb in that attack.