Beant assassin sister: ‘support us in fight for Bandi Singhs’

On Saturday, senior Akali leaders Sikander Singh Maluka and Virsa Singh Valtoha met Kamaldeep at her native village Phullanwal in Ludhiana district, to persuade her to contest the polls as party candidate. The Akali Dal will be contesting the bypoll on the issue of release of Sikh prisoners which it says had “completed their jail terms and continue to be incarcerated in jails”. Rajoana, a death row convict, is in jail for the last 26 years. The Supreme Court on May 2 had directed Centre to decide in two months a petition which has sought that Rajoana’s death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

Earlier, the Akali Dal leadership, including president Sukhbir Sigh Badal, and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief H S Dhami had met SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, on Friday requesting him to withdraw his candidature and support the “consensus” candidate to send a message across for the release of Sikh prisoners allegedly languishing in jails.

Mann, however, filed his nomination papers on Saturday.

Kamaldeep told The Indian Express that she agreed to contest as Akali Dal nominee as “We did not have the resources to contest as an independent candidate”.

“We can only request Mann sahib to support us. Everyone who wants justice to be delivered, should support us in our effort to secure release of Sikh prisoners who have been languishing in jails for 28 to 30 years,” Kamaldeep added

Daughter of ex-serviceman Jaswant Singh, who, she said, fought “three wars for the country”, Kamaldeep said her mother died in 2013 and father in January this year.

As per Kamaldeep, her father adopted Rajoana in 1993 after his father Malkeet Singh passed away. She said her two siblings — brother Harpinder Singh Goldy and sister Amandeep Kaur — were “killed by police at very young age”.

She said, it was based on the “adoption documents” that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, parole to attend last prayers of Jaswant Singh.

Rajoana is on death row in connection with the assassination of then CM Beant Singh, who along with then DGP K P S Gill was credited with flushing out militancy in Punjab.