Sword attack on ex-Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal by Nihang group in Maharashtra, assailant held

District Collector Rahul Kardile said Badal was on a visit to Nanded. “When he was coming out of the Gurdwara Mata Sahib located at Mugat in Nanded, a sevadar at the location suddenly attacked him around 1.50 pm. A police sub-inspector of the Special Protection Unit tried to stop the attacker. Both Mr Badal and the sub-inspector sustained injuries in the attack. They have been admitted to a hospital and are out of danger. The sevadar is currently in police custody and further probe is on.”

Superintendent of Police Neelabh Rohan said Jaspal Singh, the alleged assailant, had been placed under arrest. “Our probe suggests that the accused was born and brought up in Pune and had completed his LLB. He had been living in Nanded since 2023. Further investigation into the sequence of events and motive is currently underway.”

Teams of the Pune City Police and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad conducted a search at Singh’s house in the Pulgate area of Pune. “A joint search was conducted. His family members were home. They have been questioned. The information obtained in the search will be passed on to the team probing the attack,” an officer said.

Sources said Singh used to work in Mumbai with a corporate firm and had retired in 2023. He then became a sevadar at the Nanded gurdwara.

According to the sources, Singh told police that it was not a planned attack, and that he pulled out his kirpan only when he saw Badal.

Earlier in the day, the Badals visited Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded. The SAD leader’s team had shared photographs of the Badal couple, their two daughters, son and son-in-law.

Following the incident, Arshdeep Singh Kler, spokesperson of the SAD, said Badal was out of danger. “He sustained minor injuries on his arm… The Maharashtra Police is investigating the case. But I want to say that Panthic leaders are being targeted repeatedly, and it seems that some anti-Panthic forces are behind this incident,” he said.

BJP national spokesperson R P Singh, in a post on X, said, “I strongly condemn the attack on Sukhbir Singh Badal Ji in Nanded. The act of violence is not acceptable and has no place whatsoever in a democratic society. Political differences and disagreement are a natural part of democracy, but resorting to violence can never be justified.”

This is the second time in less than two years that the SAD chief has been attacked. On December 4, 2024, a former militant shot at Badal at the Golden Temple in Amritsar when he was performing religious penance. The bullet missed him, and the alleged assailant, Narain Singh Chaura, was immediately overpowered.

Chaura was among those accused of playing a key role in the 2004 Burail jailbreak in which Jagtar Singh Hawara — he is serving a life term for his role in the 1995 assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh — and three others escaped via a tunnel. Hawara was captured later.

Investigators had then said that Chaura facilitated the escape and had been in contact with Hawara around the time of the jailbreak. Chaura was acquitted in the case in 2015. He was later arrested following the 2024 attack on Badal but was granted bail by an Amritsar court in 2025.

Hawara has now sought parole to meet his ailing mother. According to Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, he had recommended parole for Hawara on humanitarian grounds. This was after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann urged the Governor to intervene in the matter.