Who is Narain Singh Chaura, Khalistani militant who tried to shoot Sukhbir Badal?
Chaura has a long history of involvement with militancy and Khalistani activities in Punjab; he was the mastermind of the famous 2004 Burail jailbreak in Chandigarh
Narain Singh Chaura, who attempted to shoot former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar, has a long history of involvement with militancy and Khalistani activities in Punjab.
The 68-year-old Chaura has been associated with the banned pro-Khalistan group Babbar Khalsa or Babbar Khalsa International. According to Punjab Special DGP (law and order), Arpit Shukla said, Chaura, who has a previous “criminal background” has been arrested. He has more than 21 cases registered against him, added the police.
Media reports said that Chaura is a Khalistani militant responsible for forming the separatist militant organisation Khalistan Liberation Army and a key leader in the movement demanding a separate state of Khalistan.
Also read: Former militant tries to shoot Sukhbir Badal outside Golden Temple
Burail jailbreak
However, Narain Chaura is most known for being the mastermind of the 2004 Burail jailbreak in Chandigarh. In this jailbreak, four inmates escaped from prison after digging a 104-foot tunnel. These four prisoners were Babbar Khalsa chief Jagtar Singh Hawara, former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh's assassins Paramjit Singh Bheora and Jagtar Singh Tara and a murder convict Devi Singh.
Narain Singh helped them by turning off the electricity in the jail. He was however caught near the jail’s boundary wall with a gun. However, he got bail in 2005 but he stopped appearing in court and responding to summons. This led to Singh being declared as a proclaimed offender.
He allegedly continued his militant activities and helped smuggle arms and ammunition into India and distributed them in Punjab. In 2013, he got arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), when a large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from him. He was released on bail five years later.
Pakistan links
Narain Singh was born on April 4, 1956, to Chanam Singh and Gurnam Singh in Punjab's Chaura village in the Gurdaspur district.
Back in 1984 itself, Narain Singh allegedly fled to Pakistan during the initial phase of terrorism in Punjab. There, he played a key role in smuggling large consignments of arms and explosives into India.
In Pakistan, reports said, he wrote a book on guerrilla warfare and some seditious literature. Chaura came back to India in the mid-1990s and remained involved in multiple terrorist activities, police said. He was also an active as a Panthic leader for many years.
According to analysts, this shooting incident brings to the fore the tensions and grievances harboured by the people related to the Khalistani movement in Punjab.