Chandigarh:

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday performed the duty of ‘sewadar’ outside a gurdwara in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib amid tight security.

Mr Badal, who was sitting in a wheelchair due to a fractured leg, also listened to ‘kirtan’ and washed dishes in the community kitchen.

The former deputy chief minister, a Z protectee, arrived at the gurdwara surrounded by security personnel. He wore a blue ‘sewadar’ uniform and sat at the gurdwara entrance with a spear in one hand for an hour from 9 am.

Saturday is the fifth day of Mr Badal’s penance for “mistakes” made by the SAD and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.

Other SAD leaders, who are also undergoing religious punishment pronounced by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, on December 2, were also present in the gurdwara.

Besides the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Akal Takht has asked Badal to perform the duty of ‘sewadar’ at the Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Takht Damdama Sahib, and Darbar Sahib in Muktsar and Fatehgarh Sahib for two days each.

On the second day of his penance at the Golden Temple on December 4, Badal had a narrow escape as former Khalistani terrorist Narain Singh Chaura fired at him from a close range but missed as he was overpowered by plainclothes policemen and later arrested.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Narain Singh Chaura, the man who allegedly has links to the Khalistani terrorist group Babbar Khalsa, was arrested for opening fire at former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal this morning. He tried to attack Mr Badal while he was serving his penance at the entrance of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Sukhbir Singh Badal escaped unhurt as Chaura was overpowered by people present on the spot.

The incident occurred around 9 am shortly after Mr Badal, who was in a wheelchair, had taken the ‘sewadar’s’ place at the gate of the Golden Temple.

Visuals from the spot show Chaura slowly approaching the gate and then taking a gun out of his pocket. A man standing near Mr Badal quickly spotted him and held his hands.

#WATCH | Punjab: Bullets fired at Golden Temple premises in Amritsar where SAD leaders, including party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, are offering ‘seva’ under the religious punishments pronounced for them by Sri Akal Takht Sahib, on 2nd December.

Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/CFQaoiqLkx

— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2024

The gun goes off but narrowly misses Mr Badal and others near him and hits the wall.

Who Is Narain Singh Chaura

Narain Singh Chaura is a resident of a village called Chaura in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, some 60 kilometres from Golden Temple.

He was born on April 4, 1956, to Chanam Singh and Gurnam Kaur.

According to sources in the security establishment, Chaura is associated with the banned pro-Khalistan group Babbar Khalsa or Babbar Khalsa International.

The 68-year-old is also considered the mastermind of Chandigarh’s 2004 Burail jailbreak case in which four inmates escaped 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.

Chaura was arrested in 2013 in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was released on bail five years later.

Sukhbir Singh Badal Serving Punishment At Golden Temple

Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday started his penance by serving the religious punishment given to him by the highest temporal body of Sikhs in a sacrilege case.

The Akali Dal chief sat in a wheelchair at the entrance of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, wearing a plaque around his neck and holding a spear, visuals showed.

Mr Badal has been sentenced by the Akal Takht to perform as a ‘sewadar’ and given clean duty in the kitchen and toilet at several gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple, for favouring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the 2015 sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.