Shaheed Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha
Shaheed Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha
Khalistan Commando Force
Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha played a key role in the assassination of General A. S. Vaidya, the former Chief of the Army of India and the perpetrator responsible for the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar under the orders of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
That which was achieved by Bhai Beant Singh and Bhai Satwant Singh on 31 October, 1984, in avenging the desecration of Darbar Sahib Amritsar by assassinating the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is mirrored by Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and his companion Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda, who on 10 August, 1986, targeted General Vaidya as he was returning from shopping in the markets at Pune, and thus the fire of vengeance was quenched in his mind.
Bhai Sukhdev Singh was born in the town of Chakk No. 11, Tehsil Karanpur, District Ganganagar, Rajasthan, to mother Surjit Kaur and father Mehnga Singh. Both parents were devoted Gursikhs, adhering to Rehat and reciting their Nitnem daily. Bhai Sukhdev Singh inherited this gift of Sikhi from an early age. Along with his schooling, he was very interested in religious studies and Gurbani. He received his early education from Chakk No. 13; his tenth grade schooling from Karanpur and his B.A. graduate studies from Gyan Jyoti College. He was studying for his M.A. in English in 1984, when Sri Harmandir Sahib Amritsar was attacked in the month of June. The attack sparked outrage against the Indian Government in the heart of Sikhs everywhere. It was at this point that Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha left his home behind and set out to regain the dignity and reputation of the Sikhs.
Together with his friend Baljinder Singh Raju, and Raju’s aunt’s son Harjinder Singh Jinda, they set out to work towards achieving this goal. In those days Bhai Labh Singh Panjwar, Bhai Jarnail Singh Halwara, Mathra Singh Chaureh Madhra, and Bhai Charanjit Singh Channi were actively operating in Ludhiana, Punjab. After the Delhi pogroms of 1984, he along with Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda made Delhi the centre of his activities. In Delhi, there was some terror surrounding the name of Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and his associates. On one occasion, Bhai Harjinder Singh was caught by the Delhi Police and from there he was sent to Ahmedabad Jail. When he somehow managed to escape, he, along with Sukhdev Singh Sukha and others, began to devise a plan to eliminate the former Commander-in-Chief of the Army, who was as much guilty of attacking Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar as was the then-Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi. She had already been targeted by her bodyguards on 31 October, 1984; now, on 10 August, 1986, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and his companion Harjinder Singh Jinda targeted retired General A. S. Vaidya, pelting him with bullets as he was shopping in the markets of Pune, in the presence of his bodyguard and in broad daylight, thus calming the burning fire of vengeance. How was Vaidya’s assassination planned? Sukhdev Singh Sukha wrote about this in a letter:
When we were living in Delhi, we had rented a house in Bombay. Brothers Baljinder Singh, Daljit Singh and Sandhu came to Pune from Chandigarh. From Pune, Baljinder Singh and I moved to Bombay. Daljit Singh and brother Sandhu remained in Pune. They rented a house here and surveyed the house of General Arun Kumar Vaidya from afar. After that these brothers came to us from Bombay. In March, 1986, we came to Ludhiana from Bombay. Here we started to think of how we could release brother Harjinder Singh from Ahmedabad Jail. We arranged to have a car and procured weapons.
Then they went back to Bombay from Ludhiana. It was in Bombay that they learnt the news of Harjinder Singh Jinda’s escape from the Ahmedabad jail on 4 April, 1986, from the newspapers. A few days later, Sukhwinder Singh alias K. S. Sharma, Daljit Singh Bittu and Sandhu were travelling to Bombay from Punjab with two revolvers in a car when they were surrounded by Rajasthan police. The three of them clashed with about a hundred policemen. Having eliminated three officers and a D.S.P., Sukhwinder Singh was seriously injured and they lost their weapons as their car was involved in a crash. Picking up Sukhwinder Singh, they walked through some fields before reaching a road where they asked for a lift from a truck driver. The police stopped and interrogated the driver numerous times, narrowly avoiding detection. Eventually, the truck driver dropped them off at a convenient point. Daljit got on the bus. Sukhwinder Singh and Sandhu boarded the train. Sukhwinder was admitted to Bombay Hospital where he was kept for 12 months before being taken to Punjab. There he was also hospitalised for a month.
Sukhdev Singh Sukha goes on to say, “Daljit Singh, brother Sandhu and I were in Bombay when two policemen knocked on the door of our house on 4 May, 1986, at around 10am in the morning. We moved quickly to be ready and waiting in another room, and asked Sandhu to open the door when he talked. Sandhu opened the door and invited the two policemen inside. They told Sandhu that he was to accompany them to the police station. Sandhu refused to go. One of them stood guard outside the house whilst the other went to fetch more police officers.
They then invited in the policemen stood guard outside on the pretence of serving him tea, locked him within and threatened to shoot him.
Then they tied his hands behind his back and locked him in the bathroom. They left with six hundred thousand rupees and their weapons and headed straight to Pune. Sandhu was then sent to Punjab with four hundred and fifty thousand rupees, whilst Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Daljit Singh remained in Pune.
On 6 May, 1986, Daljit Singh Bittu bought an Indo-Suzuki Motorcycle using the name Sanjeev Kumar Gupta with a registration plate reading MF 7548.
On 4 June, 1986, Sukhdev Singh Sukha and his collaborators made an unsuccessful attempt to loot from the Ganesh Khind branch of the Union Bank of India, shooting an employee during their escape. On 29 June, 1986, Sukhminder Singh Sukhi and Baljinder Singh alias Raju came to Pune. They started looking for a house to reside in.
On 30 June 1986, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhi and Jasvinder Kaur left for the USA. On 18 July, Sukhdev Singh Sukha obtained a passport in someone else’s name in order to escape.
On 3 August, 1986, Sukhdev Singh Sukha using the name Pardeep Kumar, Nirmal Singh Nimma using the name Sandeep Kumar, and Harjinder Singh Jinda using the name Ravi Kumar Gupta, travelled to the home of Avtar Singh Randhawa in Durg, Madhya Pardesh.
On 6 August, Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Harjinder Singh Jinda travelled to Bombay, leaving Nirmal Singh Nimma behind in Durg. On 7 August they went onwards to Pune.
Arriving in Pune, the two became active on their mission to assassinate General Vaidya. Sukhdev Singh Sukha explains: “On 9 August, 1986, we moved close to his house at around 9.30am in the morning. On 10 August we again moved close to his house at 11am. As we arrived, his wife was holding an umbrella and a personal guard was alongside her. Seeing the umbrella we thought that they might be about to leave the house. A short while later Vaidya also came outside. They all sat in the car. Vaidya was driving the vehicle himself. We started our motorcycle up and followed. He drove into market, stopped the car and went into a shop. We also parked the motorcycle. After a short time, Vaidya and they all came out of the shop. They drove off again, bought some vegetables further up ahead, and then headed home. Then Harjinder Singh said that we will not let him return home today. Harjinder Singh was riding the motorcycle. Harjinder Singh asked if he should bring the motorcycle alongside the travelling car. I said do it. As the motorcycle came alongside, shots rang out and his face hit the steering wheel. There was blood flowing from his mouth and nose. When we were completely satisfied, we raised slogans having fulfilled our mission.
After killing Vaidya, they went to their house in Pune, changed their clothes, and boarded differing buses for Bombay. From Bombay, they first travelled by train to the home of Avtar Singh Randhawa in Durg. Having stayed one night there they moved on to Calcutta.
On 7 September, 1986, Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Nirmal Singh Nimma set off for Pune on a motorcycle to collect their weapons. They were hit by a truck in an accident and were caught in Pune the very same day. They were kept in police custody for five months and subjected to severe torture. They were kept locked up in prison for two and a half years where they faced continuous beatings.
On 24 September, 1986, Avtar Singh Randhawa was arrested from Durg and on 25 September, 1986, Yadvinder Singh Pirzada was arrested from Kodaikanal and brought to Pune.
Sixteen months later, on 14 January, 1988, Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda was arrested after a police confrontation in Delhi and was brought in with injuries. He was kept in police custody for four and a half months and subjected to severe torture. They brought him to Pune where both he and the separately arrested Satnam Singh were taken away by the Punjab Police. On 2 Septemnber, 1988, charges were framed against Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha, Bhai Nirmal Singh Nimma, Yadvinder Singh Pirzada, Avtar Singh Randhawa, Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda, and the accused fugitives Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi and Jaswinder Kaur. In a statement to the special court dated 26 September, 1988, Bhai Sukhdev Singh confessed to the murder of General Vaidya. He writes: “I am Sukhdev Singh, son of Sardar Mehnga Singh Banwait, resident of 16FF, Karanpur (Rajasthan). I was arrested from Pimpri-Chinchwad railway station on 7 September, 1986. Since then, I have been incarcerated in Yerawada Jail… The evil General Vaidya was eliminated by me (Sukhdev Singh) and Harvinder Singh alias Mathura Singh, son of Sardar Gurdeep Singh, resident of Chaura Madhra, Gurdaspur. At that time Harvinder Singh alias Mathura Singh was riding a black Indo-Suzuki. I was sitting behind him. (Here he has concealed the true facts about Vaidya’s murder. He was misrepresenting the account for the sake of his accomplices. Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda was not yet in the custody of the police, so he used the name Harwinder Singh alias Mathra Singh who was by now martyred.)
On 3 November, 1989, the murder trial of Vaidya began. On 17 May, Special Court Judge V. L. Ruikar acquitted Avtar Singh Randhawa and Yadvinder Singh Pirzada. On 21 October, 1989, Bhai Nirmal Singh Nimma was also acquitted, but Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda were sentenced to death.
On 15 July, 1992, the death sentence was upheld by the High Court. On 8 October, the Supreme Court dismissed all petitions seeking a reconsideration of the sentence. On 9 October, 1992, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda were hanged to death at 4am in the morning.
Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha