Balwant Singh Rajoana

One of Main man in Assasination of Beant Singh. On August 31, 1995, as Beant Singh stepped out of his office at the high-security Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh, a suicide bomber Dilawar Singh blew himself up, killing the then chief minister and 17 others. Rajoana was the second human bomb to be used in case Dilawar had failed in his mission.

The special CBI court in Chandigarh had awarded death sentence to Rajoana and Jagtar Singh Hawara in the Beant Singh assassination case on August 1, 2007. Three others -- Lakhwinder Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Shamsher Singh -- were sentenced to life imprisonment for hatching the conspiracy to kill Beant Singh.

SGPC, the apex religious body of Sikhs, yesterday sent a mercy petition to the President seeking clemency for death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana even as Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said he would soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard.

Rajoana also wrote that Akali leaders failed to secure justice from Delhi for innocent Sikhs and should not now throw their turbans before Delhi to seek clemency for him.

“Akalis are trying to secure sympathy for me from Delhi with folded hands. But history would never forgive them for their failure to secure justice for Sikhs,” said Rajoana.

About support being offered by Beant Singh's family and Amarinder Singh, Rajoana said, “Didn't want to seek any help from them, who are the representatives of killers.”