Avtar Singh Atwal was an Indian police officer who served as the Deputy Inspector General of the Punjab Police. He was murdered by three unknown extremists on the steps of

Golden temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

while leaving after prayers on 25 April 1983 concluded by the CBI investigation that followed. His murder set in motion a chain of events that led to the commencement of

Operation Blue Star Operation Blue Star was a military operation by the Indian Armed Forces conducted between 1 and 10 June 1984 to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants from the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), a holy site of Sikhism, and i ...

. He was a posthumous recipient of the President's Police Medal for Gallantry.

Labh Singh Sukhdev Singh Dhillon (1952 – 12 July 1988), also known as General Labh Singh and Sukha Sipahi was an Indian militant, police officer, and Sikh separatist who took command of the Khalistan Commando Force after its first leader, Manbir Singh ...

was reported to be involved in the killing by some Indian news media but the CBI investigation contradicted the claim.

Personal life

He was survived by his wife and son. His wife Amrita Atwal later joined the Punjab Civil Services and retired as an IAS officer. His son, Harbir Atwal, also joined the Punjab Police as an Inspector, currently serving as a SP.

Death

On 23 April 1983, while serving as the DIG of Police Jalandhar range, Atwal visited the

Golden Temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

to pray. It was reported that Brigadier Tejinder Singh Grewal, a close relative of Atwal's, and his friend Jarnail Singh Chahal, an IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, had asked Atwal to come to Amritsar on 25 April for discussions on an important matter. Grewal was at that time posted at the army headquarters in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Chahal was one of the individuals who had previously negotiated Bhindranwale's surrender at Chowk Mehta in 1981. According to Atwal's family, Atwal initially resisted going to Amritsar, which was way out of his jurisdiction and he felt something amiss but was persuaded by the two Indian government officials over the telephone. The three had a long discussion before Atwal went into the Golden Temple. While leaving the Golden Temple, Atwal was shot and killed by a lone gunman. Two others were critically injured. The killing took place in broad daylight metres away from his bodyguards and official car. Immediately after the shootout, Atwal's bodyguard and car driver escaped in his car. A group of Punjab Armed Police jawans were stationed nearby but instead of nabbing the assassin, they also fled along with the crowd from the shooting spot. Some news outlets reported that militants from inside the temple came out to celebrate around Atwal's body but no such incident was reported in the CBI investigation nor reported by any eyewitness accounts in the police report. Both Grewal and Chahal had been in conversation with Longowal and Bhindranwale at the time and at the precise moment that Atwal was gunned down, Chahal was alone with

Harchand Singh Longowal Harchand Singh Longowal (2 January 1932 – 20 August 1985) was the President of the Akali Dal political party during the Punjab insurgency of the 1980s. He had signed the Punjab accord, also known as the Rajiv-Longowal Accord with Rajiv Gandhi ...

and Grewal was also in the vicinity. Rather than go to the scene of crime, where Atwal's body lay unclaimed, both Grewal and Chahal left for

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

in haste, where they met

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Anant Sharma Anant Prasad Sharma (25 December 1919 – October 1988) was an Indian Railway Union leader, politician who became Minister of State for Industry, and Union Minister of the government of India. He was also the Governor of the State of Punjab an ...

and then at night,

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Darbara Singh Darbara Singh (10 February 1916 — 10 March 1990) was the 10th Chief Minister of Punjab from 1980 to 1983. Freedom struggle and provincial politics Sardar Darbara Singh (1916–1990), was born into the prosperous Jatt zamindar family o ...

. The investigation of the case was handed over to the CBI, bypassing the Punjab Police who had the original jurisdiction. CBI Director J. S. Bawa was asked by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

to personally handle the case and report directly to her.

Aftermath

The "Top Cop" Atwal's killing shocked the entire state of Punjab. It established a fear of unknown gunmen and elevated crime among the locals as the CBI investigation found no evidence of

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (; born Jarnail Singh Brar; 2 June 1947– 6 June 1984) was a Sikh militant. After Operation Bluestar, he posthumously became the leading figure for the Khalistan movement, although he did not personally advocate for ...

's involvement in the same. The Sikhs sympathetic to the Akali movement were also appalled by the incident as they viewed it as offensive towards Golden Temple. Akali leaders had an emergency meeting to discuss the aftermath of the murder.

Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Eternal Party'') is a Centre-right politics, centre-right Sikhism, Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India, Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Indian ...

such as like

and

Gurcharan Singh Tohra Panth Rattan Shiri Gurcharan Singh Tohra (24 September 1924 – 1 April 2004) was a president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh body in charge of controlling Gurdwara (Sikh places of worship). He died of a heart attack i ...

immediately denounced the murder in clear terms on record. Meanwhile, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale also condemned the killing and ascribed the killing to the Indian government. Chief Minister of Punjab

advised

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

to send the Police force inside the Golden temple. As the law and order situation in Punjab continued to deteriorate

made the decision of sending in the Indian Army to flush out the militants out of the Golden Temple in

Operation Bluestar Operation Blue Star was a military operation by the Indian Armed Forces conducted between 1 and 10 June 1984 to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants from the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), a holy site of Sikhism, and i ...

Published accounts

Documentary

"Operation Blue Star and the assassination of Indira Gandhi" (2013) is an episode of the

ABP News ABP News is an Indian Hindi-language free-to-air television news channel owned by ABP Group. Initially launched as Star News in 1998, it was later acquired by the ABP Group (ABP). It won the Best Hindi News Channel award in the 21st editi ...

channel TV documentary ''

Pradhanmantri () is an Indian television political documentary series, hosted by actor-director Shekhar Kapur on Hindi news channel ABP News. It premiered on 13 July 2013. It aimed to bring to the audience never-seen-before facts of Indian history. The we ...

''. Directed by Puneet Sharma and narrated by

Shekhar Kapur Shekhar Kulbhushan Kapur (born 6 December 1945) is an Indian filmmaker. Born into the Anand-Sahni family, Kapur is the recipient of several accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a National Film Award, a National Board of Review Award and three F ...

, it showed the circumstances of Atwal's murder.

References

External links

Low Intensity Conflicts in India: An Analysis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atwal, Avtar Singh 1943 births 1983 deaths Punjabi Sikhs Assassinated Indian people People from Punjab, India Victims of the insurgency in Punjab People murdered in Punjab, India Deaths by firearm in India Indian Police Service officers Assassinated police officers Victims of Sikh terrorism 1983 murders in India