Sukhbir escapes life bid at Golden Temple

Former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal escaped an assassination attempt at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday after a 68-year-old man fired at him before being overpowered by a police officer, in an incident that triggered outrage, posed questions about the security setup, and threatened to trigger turmoil in a state that fought militancy for decades.

- Surjit Singh

The suspect, Narain Singh Chaura, was arrested and investigations revealed that he was the mastermind of the 2004 Burail jailbreak, apart from being involved in a raft of terror cases since 1992.

Police said they were working to ascertain if Chaura was working as a "lone wolf" or if a larger conspiracy was at play. The attempted murder sparked national outrage, with senior political leaders condemning the incident and hitting out at the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration even as the state government commended the Punjab Police for its "swift action".

Badal, who suffered a foot fracture weeks ago and is currently wheelchair-bound, was performing his second day of duty as a "sewadar" in uniform at the main entrance of the Golden Temple as part of penance prescribed to him by the Akal Takht-the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs - for "mistakes" the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government committed between 2007 and 2017.

He took his spot at 9.05am and was surrounded by 20-25 people.

Chaura entered the temple complex around 9.20am. He washed his feet at an ablution tank two-and-a-half metres away from the senior SAD leader, and pulled out a pistol.

The shooter was about eight feet away from Badal when he tried to open fire, before being overpowered by an alert police officer, Jasvir Singh. Singh grabbed Chaura's hands, who shot into the air, 7-8 feet above Badal.

Meanwhile, several people standing around him formed a cordon, while others began to thrash the 68-year-old shooter.

Volunteers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), responsible for management of the gurdwara, and other police personnel snatched the man's pistol.