After 23 years, Khalistani leader Bhullar gets 21-day parole

Former Khalistan Liberation Force militant and 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar was on Saturday released on parole after 23 years.

Updated on: Apr 24, 2016, 08:02:32 IST

Hindustan Times | By Aseem Bassi, Amritsar

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Former Khalistan Liberation Force militant and 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar was on Saturday released on parole after 23 years.

Devinderpal Singh Bhullar was admitted to the psychiatry ward at Guru Nanak dev Hospital in Amritsar. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo)

The move comes a day after former militant Gurdeep Singh Khera walked out of Amritsar central jail on parole.

Talking to HT, Amritsar deputy commissioner Varun Roojam said, “We have approved Bhullar’s 21-day parole.”

Bhullar was shifted to Amritsar central jail from Delhi’s Tihar in June last year. But he was immediately admitted to the psychiatry ward of the local Guru Nanak Hospital and had been undergoing treatment for depression there since then.

Read: Court acquits Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, paves way for his parole

Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur, along with her relatives, received him when he was released from police custody.

Before being shifted to Amritsar, Bhullar was admitted to the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences in New Delhi as he was suffering from depression.

Bhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people in a bomb blast in 1993. Among those who survived the attack is former Youth Congress chief MS Bitta.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Bittu said, “We welcome the parole being granted to Bhullar. He will be now able to spend some time with his family.”

The case file

1993: Blast outside AIYC headquarters in New Delhi kills nine. Bhullar, one of main accused, fleas to Germany

1995: Bhullar deported to India and arrested

2001: Trial court hands out death penalty to Bhullar, who is lodged in Tihar Jail

2012: Bhullar’s treatment for depression begins, shifted to a hospital in Delhi

2014: Supreme Court commutes his death sentence to life imprisonment

2015: Bhullar shifted to Amritsar hospital after SC accepts family's plea

2016: State govt approves Bhullar’s parole

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aseem Bassi
A principal correspondent, Aseem Bassi is the bureau chief at Amritsar. He covers politics, Indo-Pak border, gurdwara politics, crime, border trade and civic issues.

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