Attack on Sukhbir Badal lays bare chinks in security

A former militant’s assassination attempt on Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal at the Golden Temple was foiled on Wednesday, exposing serious security lapses despite his Z-plus protection status.

Narain Singh Chaura, 68, a known militant figure wanted in several terror-related cases, attempted to shoot Sukhbir from point-blank range while the former deputy chief minister was performing sewa (service) at the shrine’s entrance.

The bullet missed Sukhbir after an alert police officer in plainclothes grabbed Chaura’s hand, causing the shot to hit a wall about 7 feet above Sukhbir’s head.

Sukhbir, 62, was seated in a wheelchair due to a foot fracture, wearing the blue uniform of a sewadar and holding a ceremonial spear, when Chaura approached after washing his feet at the entrance. Standing barely 8 feet away, Chaura pulled out a sophisticated 9mm revolver — a prohibited bore weapon meant only for security forces that police say was smuggled from Pakistan.

“The assassination bid was thwarted due to police alertness. We had deployed about 200 personnel under senior officers, apart from Sukhbir’s personal security,” Amritsar police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said. He added that officer Rashpal Singh first spotted Chaura and began tracking him, while officers Jasvir Singh and Parminder Singh physically intervened during the shooting attempt.

“It was only because of this briefing that cops standing next to Sukhbir were alert and saved him,” Bhullar told media in Amritsar.

SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, however, countered the police claims and said: “ASI Jasvir is not attached to Amritsar police. He has been attached as a personal security officer (PSO) with the Badal family for the past 22 years. He was a PSO with late Parkash Singh Badal and is now with Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The attack is utter failure of the Punjab Police.”

Sukhbir has Z-plus cover that includes 36 personnel with 10+ CISF commandos. At the time of the attack, none of his central security detail was visibly present near him.

“Z-plus security norms are very serious as this category is allotted to the protectee having very high risk of life. Z-plus has serious protocols which needed to be fulfilled when the protectee comes in the public. On Tuesday when Sukhbir stood at the gate of the Golden Temple, personnel in his Z-plus security detail were seen standing behind him. However, on Wednesday, nobody was there,” a retired ADGP-rank officer said.

A senior Akali leader, requesting anonymity, revealed that Z-plus personnel were asked to maintain distance after some devotees complained to the Akal Takht jathedar about Sukhbir undergoing religious punishment under heavy security cover.

A former DGP of Punjab, who wished not to be quoted, said whatever were the circumstances, a big mishappening has averted due to alertness of cops standing in civvies near Sukhbir.

“You cannot precisely say it as an intelligence failure as those cops who saved Sukhbir must have been deputed close to him based on some intelligence reports. For police, the biggest question is how Chaura, a well-known militant, managed to go close to the Z-plus protectee,” said the former DGP.

A senior police officer overseeing the probe from Chandigarh said Chaura was at the Golden Temple the day Akal Takht announced punishment for Sukhbir.

The incident marks the first assassination attempt on a prominent political figure at the Golden Temple in decades. After the attempt was foiled, Sukhbir continued his sewa, later joined by his wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

The assassination attempt came a day after the Akal Takht, Sikhism’s highest temporal seat, directed Badal and other SAD leaders to perform sewa as penance for their alleged role in the 2015 sacrilege incidents and managing pardon for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a 2007 blasphemy case.