Accused raises Khalistan slogans

Beant Singh was killed in a blast outside the Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995. While Dilawar Singh, believed to be the human bomb, was killed in the explosion, nine others are facing trial.

Today, slogans of "Khalistan zindabad, Bhai Dilawar Singh zindabad, Khalistan Commando Force zindabad" were raised by the accused while entering the courtroom. He was being escorted by the jail staff as he had reportedly refused to enter the room along with the other accused.Reiterating his stand against defending himself, the accused told UT District and Sessions Judge B.S. Bedi that he had no faith in the Indian judicial system and did not wish to attend the court.

Later, during the proceedings, the defence counsel sought time for filing an affidavit by accused Samsher Singh in support of their application for changing CBI prosecutor S.K. Saxena. They had earlier stated that Samsher Singh’s alleged confessional statement was prepared by Saxena and his presence was "causing prejudice to the accused".

The application had been moved almost two-and-a-half years after the recording of evidence began in the case and at a time when day-to-day proceedings had been ordered by the then Sessions Judge.

The CBI, on the other hand, had denied the defence counsel’s allegations regarding accused Samsher Singh being interrogated in the presence of the special prosecutor along with three other officials.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (CBI) S.N. Saxena, in the reply submitted before the court, had stated that allegations were baseless as S.K. Saxena was never associated with the investigation of the case. The case will now come up on June 15.