Family not sorry for Tara
The family of Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the proclaimed offenders in the assassination of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, isn’t sorry that he has been arrested in Thailand.
The family of Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the proclaimed offenders in the assassination of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, isn’t sorry that he has been arrested in Thailand.
Tara, who is from Dekwala village near Rupnagar, is a bachelor. “We came to know about his arrest from newspapers and news channels on Tuesday,” said Tara’s sister-in-law, Baljit Kaur, adding that the family “has nothing to do him, and its children have not ever seen his face”.
Tara studied at Purkhali village until Class 12 and thereafter went to Delhi to be a taxi driver, Baljit Kaur has said, adding that Tara’s father used to visit him in jail. Tara’s parents and two of his five brothers are dead. Of his remaining brothers, the eldest, Shamsher Singh, works in Dubai; Jaswinder Singh drives taxi in Delhi; and Balwinder Singh is a farmer.
Life of a militant
*Before escaping from Chandigarh’s Burail jail — by digging a 14 feet deep and 75 feet long tunnel — along with three accomplices, Jagtar Singh Tara had been arrested in 1996 for the assassination of the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and 17 others through a human bomb in 1995.
*Born on February 20, 1974, Tara hails from Dekwala village of Rupnagar district of Punjab, and studied still Class 12.
*Tara was initially a member of the militant group Babbar Khalsa and had close links with its chief Wadhawa Singh Babbar; but later founded the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) after developing differences with Wadhawa Singh who is believed to be in Pakistan.
*Wanted in seven cases, Tara’s brush with crime had begun in 1991 when, as per police records, he ambushed a police team at Pathreri Jattan village of Rupnagar. Later, he was declared a proclaimed offender in this case.
*Before the assassination of Beant Singh, Tara and accomplice Jagtar Singh Hawara (since convicted) had purchased a grey Ambassador car (DBA-9598) for Rs32,000 from a resident of Delhi that was allegedly used for the crime. A Punjab police constable was the human bomb.
*After escaping from jail in 2004, Tara was hiding in Pakistan and went to Thailand in June-July 2014, police sources said.