Who is Narain Singh Chaura, the ex-Khalistani militant who fired at former Punjab Dy CM Sukhbir Badal?

Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal, was shot at by a man while he was performing the duty of 'sevadar' outside the Golden Temple on Wednesday. Sukhbir Badal, who was sitting in a wheelchair, however, escaped unhurt as the firing attempt was foiled and the bullet hit a wall.

The man who tried to fire bullets at the former deputy chief minister of Punjab has been identified as Narain Singh Chaura. He was nabbed later. Chaura has been reportedly roaming around the area since Tuesday.

Badal was serving a religious punishment given to him by Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs in a sacrilege case. The Sikh clergy at theAkal Takht pronounced the punishment in the wake of "mistakes" committed by the SAD and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.

Who is Narain Singh Chaura?

Narain Singh Chaura was born in Chaura village of Punjab's Gurdaspur district in April 1956. 

He is a former militant who also faced many cases and remained underground. He was actively involved with the Khalistani movement, which sought to establish an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, in the 1980s.

The movement gained momentum after the 1984 Operation Blue Star and the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, leading to widespread violence and instability in Punjab.

Punjab police said that Chaura had crossed over to Pakistan in 1984 and had a role in smuggling  consignments of weapons and explosives into Punjab during the initial phase of militancy in 1980s. While in Pakistan, Chaura is said to have penned a book on guerrilla warfare and ‘seditious’ literature. 

Chaura came back to India in the mid-1990s and remained involved in multiple terrorist activities, police said. He was also an active as a Panthic leader for many years.

Chaura was arrested  in 2013 under the section of he Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA.) He came out of jail after five years in August 2018. Chaura is also said to play a key role in Burail jailbreak for providing mobile phones to the assassins of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh who were lodged in the jail in 2003-2004.

Chaura had helped the Babbar Khalsa International terrorists, Jagtar Singh Hawara, and Paramjit Singh Bheora, along with their two accomplices Jagtar Singh Tara and Devi Singh, to escape from the Burail jail, but turning off the electricity supply of the jail.