Gunshot fired at Golden Temple; miraculous escape of sewadar

A sewadar (caretaker) at the Golden Temple had a narrow escape when a stray bullet pierced through his turban and jacket before scraping past his chest on Thursday.

A mystery bullet pierced through the turban and jacket of a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) ‘sewadar’ standing in the Parikarma (marbled periphery) of the Golden Temple on Thursday here amid thousands of pilgrims inside the holiest of the Sikh shrines.

Gurpreet, a sewadar in Golden Temple showing the bullet injury on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Sewadar Gurpreet Singh was lucky that the bullet only scratched his chest.

He was on duty near the Dukhbhanjani Beri when he got hit. Panic broke out among the pilgrims and the others present when they spotted the bullet on the Parikarma floor. Whether it was a stray bullet or fired at a specific target remains a subject of speculation.

The sewadar was moved to hospital and reported to be fine. Police and top officials of the SGPC inspected the scene of crime. “We have registered a case and started with investigation,” said Amritsar police commissioner Jatinder Aulakh, adding: “I am very much sure that the bullet, which seems to be of a .315 rifle, was not fired from within the shrine. It came from outside, definitely; and lucky that the shot wasn’t fatal.”

Aulakh said security-camera had caught the sewadar’s turban moving a bit when the shot had come through it.

“Forensic experts will reverse calculate the bullet’s trajectory,” he added. Asked if any firing incident was reported outside the shrine on Thursday, the police commissioner said: “None till evening.”