Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday wrote to his Karnataka counterpart for premature release of militant Gurdeep Singh Khera – a convict in Delhi and Bidar bomb blast cases – on the basis of his good conduct.
Amarinder has asked Karnataka CM, HD Kumaraswamy, to sympathetically consider the case of Khera, currently serving double life sentence in Amritsar Central Jail after having been transferred from Karnataka’s Gulberg jail in 2015.
According to an official spokesperson, the Punjab CM, in his letter, sought his Karnataka counterpart’s indulgence in advising the Prison Department of his state for reconsideration of the matter as Gurdip Singh alias Deep, had been languishing in the jail for the last 25 years under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activity (TADA) after being convicted in Delhi and Bidar bomb blast cases.
The District Magistrate Amritsar had earlier taken up the case with the Karnataka government which had intimated their inability under existing guidelines.
Meanwhile, Amarinder has also written to Rajasthan CM, Vasundahra Raje, for expediting the transfer of Sikh political prisoner Harnek Singh Bhap, son of Tara Singh, currently lodged in Central Jail Jaipur, to a suitable prison in Punjab.
He pointed out that Director General of Rajasthan Police had already forwarded his recommendation to the Department of Home in June this year and the final approval was awaited.
It may be added that a Sikh delegation had approached the state government, through Cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, with a request to raise the issue with the Rajasthan government.