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HT This Day: August 4, 1988 -- Death for Satwant, Kehar confirmed
“I was falsely implicated,” Balbir Singh, former security man at the residence of the late Mrs Indira Gandhi, declared on his release this evening after spending more than four years in jail.
“I was falsely implicated,” Balbir Singh, former security man at the residence of the late Mrs Indira Gandhi, declared on his release this evening after spending more than four years in jail.
The burly, six-footer ex-sub inspector of the Delhi Police was whisked away in a car from Gate I of Tihar Central Jail to his house in North Delhi. He was accompanied by five relatives- two brothers and three nephews - who waited for more than four hours for him.
The main jail compound and its periphery were swarming with journalists, cameramen and a horde of armed policemen, in anticipation of Balbir Singh’s release. The orders from the Supreme Court, acquitting him in the Indira Gandhi assassination case, came to the jail authorities late in the evening. It was at 8 pm that the despatch rider entered the jail with the court orders.
Striding out from the jail gate at 9pm, Balbir Singh told the mobbing reporters that he “only came to know about the Supreme Court’s decision half an hour ago.” He was all praises for “the justice” done to him by the three-member bench of the Supreme Court. “Three cheers for Justice G. L. Oza,” he said.
Balbir Singh shook hands with the jail authorities soon after he emerged as a “free bird” from the service door of the main jail gate. Carrying a pile of books and an a Mini-Collins Dictionary, he was embraced by an emotional Swaran Singh, his brother, a familiar figure during the course of his trial in the jail as well as in Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.
Balbir Singh said his stay in Tihar Central Jail was “unforgettable.” Asked if he would rejoin the police force, now that he had been declared innocent, Balbir Singh folded his hands and said, “No.”
“I am just an ordinary man and would like to serve humanity,” he quipped. Even his relatives present showed a disinclination for his resuming his duties as a policeman. “It’s his decision”, was the comment of Swaran Singh. Balbir Singh had been “doing a lot of reading and writing” in jail, Swaran Singh said. Even during his trial by the sessions judge inside Tihar Jail, Balbir Singh used to silently make notes in a register, sitting behind a bullet proof glass enclosure with Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh. “He had almost become a lawyer in making,” joked his nephew Harjit Singh, recollecting his uncle’s activities in the maximum security prison. The jail authorities had left no stones unturned in the “safekeeping” of Balbir, Kehar and Satwant. They were isolated from one another and were allowed to meet their relatives at a distance of nearly 12-14 feet, Harjit recollected. This added precautions, according to him, was imposed after the jailbreak by Charles Sobhraj and his henchmen in March last year. “Thereafter, the jail officers forbade us to take Balbir home-cooked food,” Swaran Singh recollected. “Even the clothes taken to Balbir used to be rewashed after being handed over to him,” he added. Swaran Singh carried a bag containing Balbir’s turban. The jail authorities had also taken away Balbir’s “patka” as a “precautionary measure,” following the Delhi High Court’s confirmation of the death sentence passed by the sessions court.
Central Jail was “unforgettable.” Asked if he would rejoin the police force, now that he had been de- clared innocent, Balbir Singh folded his hands and said: “No.” “I am just an ordinary man and would like to serve humanity,” he quipped. Even his relatives present showed a disinclination for his re- suming his duties as a policeman. “It’s his decision”, was the comment of Swaran Singh.
Balbir Singh had been “doing a lot of reading and writing” in jail, Swaran Singh said. Even during his trial by the sessions judge inside Tihar Jail, Balbir Singh used to silently make notes in a register, sitting behind a bullet proof glass enclosure with Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh.
“He had almost become a lawyer in making,” joked his nephew Harjit Singh, recollecting his uncle’s activities in the maximum security prison.
The jail authorities had left no stones unturned in the “safekeeping” of Balbir, Kehar and Satwant. They were isolated from one another and were allowed to meet their relatives at a distance of nearly 12-14 feet, Harjit recollected. This added precautions, according to him, was imposed after the jailbreak by Charles Sobhraj and his henchmen in March last year.
“Thereafter, the jail officers for- bade us to take Balbir home-cooked food,” Swaran Singh recollected.
“Even the clothes taken to Balbir used to be rewashed after being handed over to him,” he added.
Swaran Singh carried a bag containing Balbir’s turban. The jail authorities had also taken away Balbir’s “patka” as a “precautionary measure,” following the Delhi High Court’s confirmation of the death sentence passed by the sessions court.
