Patiala, July 17: Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict on death row for the assassination of then Chief Minister Beant Singh, started an indefinite fast at the Central Jail here on Monday. Efforts by the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to persuade him not to go ahead with the hunger strike proved futile.
Earlier in the day, SGPC members Surjit Singh Garhi, Jasmer Singh Lachru and others met Rajoana. Sources said he asserted that his fast would continue till Home Minister Rajnath Singh cleared the air on his mercy petition.
Jail officials said, “We are keeping an eye on him. The jail doctor has been asked to monitor his health.”
Meanwhile, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, party MPs Prem Singh Chandumajra and Naresh Kumar Gujral and SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal will meet Rajnath Singh on July 18. “We will take up Rajoana’s case and request the Home Minister to commute death penalty to life imprisonment,” Chandumajra said.
Source Tribune India
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