Punjab CM seeks early release of TADA prisoner

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday wrote a letter to Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy for the early release of Gurdeep Singh Khera, who is serving double life sentences in terror cases, on the basis of his good conduct.

Khera, the son of Banta Singh, has been in jail for the last 25 years under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, after being convicted in Delhi and Bidar bomb blast cases.

Singh has asked Kumaraswamy to sympathetically consider the case of Khera, currently lodged in Amritsar Central Jail, after having been transferred from Karnataka's Gulberg jail in 2015.

It should be noted that the Amritsar District Magistrate had earlier taken up the case with the government of Karnataka, which had intimated their inability under existing guidelines.

Meanwhile, Singh has also written to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for expediting the transfer of Sikh political prisoner Harnek Singh Bhap, son of Tara Singh, currently lodged in Central Jail Jaipur, to a suitable prison in Punjab.

Singh pointed out that Director General of Rajasthan Police had already forwarded his recommendation to the Department of Home in June this year and the final approval was awaited.

A Sikh delegation had earlier approached the state government through cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, with a request to raise the issue with the Rajasthan government.