Two of the six convicts in the assassination of Punjab chief minister Mr Beant Singh in August 1995, were awarded death sentence by a Special Court here on Tuesday.
Three others convicted in the case were awarded life imprisonment while another was sentenced 10 years of imprisonment.
Mr Jagatar Singh Hawara and Mr Balwant Singh, who were operatives of the dreaded Babbar Khalsa militant outfit, were sent to the gallows by Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr R N Singh, who delivered the verdict on quantum of sentence to the convicts from the high security Burail jail here on Tuesday. The accused raised separatist slogans — “Khalistan zindabad” and “Dilawar Singh amar rahe”,  after hearing the verdict.
Dilawar Singh was the human bomb who sneaked into the security cordon of Punjab chief minister Mr Beant Singh and triggered a massive blast outside the Punjab civil secretariat here, on August 31, 1995, when Mr Singh was about to sit in his official car. Besides Mr Singh, 16 others lost their lives on the fateful day.
Three other convicted in the case, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were thrashed with life imprisonment while Naseeb Singh was given ten years imprisonment by the Court.
The seventh accused in the case, Navjot Singh was acquitted by the Court.
Two other accused are still absconding, after a daring run away from jail three years ago along with Hawara, who was later arrested by the police.