Punjab: Life imprisonment for ex-militant who killed ex-MLA’s brother

JALANDHAR: A designated TADA court in Jalandhar has sentenced former militant Satinderjit Singh Mintu,57, to rigorous life imprisonment for the 1987 murder of former SAD MLA and now BJP leader Sarabjit Singh Makkar’s brother Surinder Singh Makkar.

He had been convicted under Section 302 of IPC and under provisions of TADA.

Surinder Singh Makkar was killed by militants on January 22, 1987. According to prosecution, militants suspected that he was a police informer. Mintu was convicted and sentenced by the designated court of Dharminder Paul Singla.

Initially, a case was registered against three unknown persons, but police later nominated four people in the case. Police had arrested Palwinder Singh, Harwinder Singh and Pardeep Singh, while Mintu was declared proclaimed offender. Palwinder’s body was later found near a canal at Focal Point in Jalandhar on February 20, 1990.

Hardeep was killed in a police encounter on February 26, 1991. According to defence counsel Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, whereabouts of accused Harwinder Singh were not known and no record was available regarding his death, bail or jail. Mintu was arrested on June 22, 2005. He later got bail, but jumped it and was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) again. He was re-arrested in January 2014.

After he was convicted earlier in the day, prosecution sought the death sentence for him.

After hearing the counsels of prosecution and defence, the court sentenced him to rigorous life imprisonment under Section 302 (murder) of IPC and Section 3 of TADA with a fine of Rs 1 lakh under each section. He was also sentenced to five years in jail under Section 27 of Arms Act fine of Rs 10,000.