A special court here on Tuesday sentenced Paramjit Singh Bheora, chief of a Sikh extremist organisation, to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 1995 assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh.
Additional district and sessions judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi announced the verdict in the high-security model jail, where the trial was held. A fine of Rs.65,000 was also imposed on Bheora, who was convicted of the charge of criminal conspiracy.
Beant Singh was assassinated by a suicide bomber, who exploded a car bomb, in the Punjab Civil Secretariat complex here on August 31, 1995. Eleven others, including three members of Beant Singh's security staff, were also killed in the blast. Babbar Khalsa International had claimed responsibility for the assassination.
Paramjit Singh Bheora, chief of Babbar Khalsa International, was arrested in 1997. The CBI booked nine persons, including Bheora, for the killing.
Jagtar Singh Hawara, an accomplice of Bheora, was sentenced to death in 2007. In January 2004, Hawara and Bheora, with two other prisoners, escaped from the Burail jail through a 100-foot-long tunnel they had dug through their barrack. They were arrested later by the Delhi police.
