Jaipur court sentenced a Khalistani militant to life in prison for abducting the son of a former Congress minister in a case that dates back to 1995 on Friday.
Khalistan Liberation Front militant Harnek Singh was found guilty in separate cases of kidnapping, encounter with police, and illegal possession of arms registered in three different police stations on Thursday.
The life sentence was awarded only for abduction.
After his sentenced was passed, Singh said to the press: "I would thank Jail and Police departments, and media. I respect the court order, but I will appeal it because there are lacunae in the judgement that relate to recovery of arms and ammunition”.
The judgement comes eight years after Rajendra Mirdha, son of Congress leader Ramniwas Mirdha, died.
Khalistan militants Daya Singh Lahoria, Harnek Singh, Navneet Kandiya and Suman Sood abducted Mirdha in 1995 to pressure then prime minister Narasimha Rao to have the Khalistan Liberation Front’s chief Devinderpal Singh Bhullar — who had been found guilty for his involvement in the 1993 Delhi blast case and was kept in a prison in Punjab — released.
Police freed Mirdha after a raid at a house at Model Town near Malviya Nagar on February 26, 1995. Kandiya was killed in the gun battle that followed, but Daya Singh, his wife Sumon Sood and Harnek Singh escaped.
Daya Singh and his wife then fled to the US and were brought back to India on January 3, 1997, after an extradition treaty was signed.
Daya Singh was sentenced for life in 2004, and his wife got five years in jail.
Punjab Police arrested Harnek Singh in 2004 and handed him over to Rajatshan on February 26, 2007.
The judge announced separate punishments in each case.
