The Editor News. Chandigarh
After Diljit Dosanjh’s film Chamkila was released a few days ago on NetFlix, Amarjot and Amar Singh Chamkila are once again a topic of hot discussion, more so, the million dollar question – who killed this controversial duet singer duo.
Who was behind the killing of this singer duo has been investigated by ‘The Editor News’ for the last few days. The two were neither killed for ransom nor professional rivalry.
The Khalistan Commando Force and the All India Sikh Student Federation were directly involved and after the Chamkila murder incident, General Labh Singh of the Khalistan Commando Force took responsibility for it.
The interesting thing about this murder case is that Amar Singh Chamkila would have already been killed in his office in Ludhiana, if the people who went to kill him had found him on the day and this too was widely known. The killers had only wanted to shoot Chamkila, but Amarjot was killed when she lay on top of Amar Singh Chamkila who had fallen on the ground and she too came under fire. Although in the film, many facts have been distorted. According to the details gathered, Chamkila and Amarjot were killed by Khalistan Commando Force militants Gurdeep Singh Heran, Gurnek Singh Neka and Sukhdev Singh Sodhi and while they were being killed there two more militants Gurdev Singh Rurka and Paramjit Singh Veer of the village were also standing there by a scooter with two assault rifles because if Gurdeep and his accomplices had failed to kill Chamkila, then these men would have killed him instead.
It was decided to kill Chamkele in room number 62 of the hostel – Lavshinder Singh (ex-militant) was staying in at the Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana.
When Editor News contacted Loveshinder Singh, who was a friend of Gurdeep Singh Deepa Hera, living in England, he made several sensational revelations related to the Chamkila murder case. He said that the president of All India Sikh Student Federation Gurjit Singh Jhok Harihar started an 11-point social reform program, in which a program was drawn up to curb dowry, wedding processions, as well as lachar gayaki (vulgar singing) and under this drive, Chamkila was also warned many times. But during the Canada tour, he said Gurjit Singh was interested in asking for money, so he ignored the threats. He said that the first meeting was held in a room near Dugri Shamshan Ghat in Ludhiana, in which he himself and Satpal Singh Dhillon, Gurnek Singh Neka, Gurdeep Singh Deepa Heran, Sher Singh Pandori, Gurjit Singh Kaka Pohli attended the meeting. He said that after this meeting, he and Gurdeep Singh Dipa Heran went to Chamkila’s office in Ludhiana, where they met his clerk and asked him about Chamkila’s programs. The clerk told them that Chamkila was fully booked for six months and after that he had to go to Canada. In the meantime the president of the federation Gurjit Singh Jhok Harihar got the information that Amar Singh Chamkile had booked shows in Canada. Also that he had alleged Chamkila had accused him of asking for money. It is worth mentioning that when Gurjit Singh became the president of the AISSF he owned large tracts of land worth lakhs. Leveling the extortion allegation caused the death of Chamkila.
Another meeting was held in room number-62 of the hostel of Guru Nanak Engineering College, he also said that in this room Khalistan Commando Force and the Federation used to hold frequent meetings and Gurdeep Singh Deepa Hera participated in this meeting. There were 19 Sikh militants including Satpal Singh Dhilon, Gurnek Singh Neka, Sher Singh Pandori, Gurjit Singh Kaka, Gurmeet Singh Mita and Sarabjit Singh joined it and it was decided that wherever Amar Singh Chamkila is found, they would kill him.
Deepa Heran explained this to those organising the akhaara (private concert). Loveshinder Singh said that Gurdeep Singh Deepa Heran had received the information that the program of Amar Singh Chamkile was going to be held in the village Massanpur near Phillaur, and after this Gurdeep Singh Deepa Heran, Gurnek Singh Neka and Sukhdev Singh alias Hari Singh – the three men reached Masonpur on a scooter. Deepa Heranwala met the family in whose house the Chamkila’s program was to be held and told the family that earlier you conducted Sri Akhand Path Sahib prayers and now you are conducting Chamkila’s program. He said there are terrorists roaming in this area, then the family members replied that there is no problem, don’t worry, Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot have come to the previous attic and you should also watch their program and saying that, Deepa told her friends.
When Amar Singh Chamkila’s car stopped there, Amarjot first got out of the car and took out a small mirror from her purse to check her make-up. As she was walking, Gurdeep Singh Deepa Hera fired a burst of bullets at Chamkila and the latter fell down. Amarjot also fell on top of Chamkila to save him and was shot. In the film, the first strike is shown as Amarjot being hit in the head.
When the shots were fired, there was chaos among the people who had come in large numbers and Gurnek Singh Neka got on the stage and holding the microphone he said to the fleeing people that on one side the blood of Sikh youth in Punjab is flowing and on the other side you are listening to such vulgar songs. But the chaos continued.
The resolve to kill Chamkila was firm. It was decided that Amar Singh Chamkila should be killed in any case and this opportunity should not be missed. Following this, two other persons were kept on stand-by, in which Gurdev Singh Rurka and Paramjit Singh Pamma Veer of the village were also watching the entire incident with two assault rifles, on stand-by and after that these five persons went to the nearby village of Sang. They went to Dhesian where they had a huge fanfare.
In the Sarbat Khalsa held on 26 January 1986, a five-member panthik committee was elected, which held several meetings at the Sri Darbar Sahib, as shown in the film by Chamkila’s partner Swaran Sivia taking them to the panthik committee. That is a true event. Sources said that Chamkila also made a deg of 5200 rupees there, later two of the five members of this panthik committee were already killed in police encounters, while one member left everything and went to America. Only Gurbachan Singh Manochhal and Wassan Singh Zaffarwal stayed on. Chamkila was also aware of this and due to this, he became fearless and continued to sing the same songs, which he was stopped from singing again.
The police did not conduct a serious investigation in the case of Chamkila’s assassination.
A film based on the life of late Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila and his wife Amarjot Kaur has been released from NetFlix, in this film Amar Singh Chamkila’s character is played by popular Punjabi singer and actor Daljit Dusanjh and Amarjot Kaur’s character is played by Bollywood actress Parneeti Chopra. The film’s release has brought back memories of the militancy days of Punjab. The filmmaker has only glimpsed the whole life of Chamkila but in the film his death has been shown as a probable cause of militancy in conjunction with the mutual animosity of the Punjabi artists. It is not revealed in the film as to who ultimately killed the duo. The matter was investigated by The Editor News, in which while talking to the police officers of that time, they also talked to the important characters of militancy in Punjab who had a big role at that time. Yet the police did not do any major investigation in this case because according to a police officer, at that time, the police were working on two theories: death to the influence of Punjabi singers and likely world of Sikh Khalistani militants, but the police could not reach any conclusion. It is worth noting that during the time of terrorism in Punjab, there were FIRs, but their investigation was rarely done, mostly FIRs were against unknown persons and in the case of Chamkila against three unknown persons. This is number 65 at the Nurmahal police station. An FIR was registered.
When the convention of All India Sikh Student Federation was convened in Bibi Kahn Kaur’s Gurdwara Moga in May 1987, a large gathering was held and in this gathering an 11-point social reform movement was announced, including strictures against wasteful expenditure, dowry, smaller baraats and reducing the number of barats as well as ban on lachar singing and many famous Punjabi singers were also present during that convention in which Kuldeep Manak, Mohammad Sadiq, Surinder Shinda etc. had arrived but Chamkila did not reach this convention. So the singers tried to show their songs to the federation, at that time the president of the federation, Gurjit Singh, reprimanded the singers.
The news appeared in the newspapers the next day that the censor of the Singhs came into force and these singers never again sang lachar songs, although Chamkila continued to sing controversial songs without paying attention to them.
Eminent Sikh scholar Dr. Sukhjit Singh Udoke expressed a strong reaction to Daljit Dosanjh’s film Amar Singh Chamkila, saying that in this film, an attempt has been made to present a wrong narrative regarding the militancy movement of Sikhs, especially in Punjab. He was targeted due to the rise of a Dalit based on his background, he said while the Chamkile incident had nothing to do with Dalits or casteism, he was killed only for singing lachar. Dr. Udoke said that even today you cannot sit and listen to Chamkile’s songs in your family.
Who was Gurdeep Singh Deepa Hera?
Gurdeep Singh Deepa Hera was a big name and face of the era of terrorism in Punjab who hailed from village Hera in Jalandhar and was active from 1987 to 1992-93, although in the Amar Singh Chamkila murder case Gurdeep Singh Deepa Neither Hera nor any other Khalistani were named because, according to a police officer, the police at that time did not want to link the incident with Khalistani terrorists, as the incident would have boosted the morale of the Khalistani. Limiting the matter to the interaction of actors, it is worth mentioning here that Diljit Dosanjh’s film Amar Singh Chamkila has also tried unsuccessfully to show the narrative of interaction between actors. According to police sources, Deepa Hera and Sawa were accused of more than two hundred murders, mainly Darshan Singh KP, MLA, father of Mahendra Singh KP, who recently joined the Akali Dal. Apart from Sarwan Singh Cheema, the killings of many comrades are included, he was the Area Commander of Khalistan Commando Force of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr and Hoshiarpur and he escaped from many ongoing encounters, later it was learned that someone from Garha had informed him. He was killed in a polic encounter.