Punjab’s Chief Minister, Beant Singh, was assassinated on August 31, 1995, in the first such incident in independent India. A senior leader of the Congress Party, Beant Singh had taken office in 1992 during a time when Punjab was grappling with intense separatism and terrorism. On the day of the assassination, while seated in a car outside the Secretariat, a separatist extremist approached and detonated a bomb, killing Beant Singh and 16 others. Following the attack, police and security agencies conducted an extensive investigation, leading to the arrest of several suspects. On July 31, 2007, the court delivered its verdict: masterminds Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh Rajoana were sentenced to death, while three others—Gurmeet, Lakhwinder, and Shamsher—received life imprisonment. Another convict, Naseeb Singh, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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