Beant Singh's grandson Harkirat Singh dies of bullet injury, probe on

Harkirat Singh, grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, died here on Sunday after sustaining bullet injury in mysterious circumstances at his residence. "Harkirat (40) received bullet injury in his head. How he received the injury is not exactly clear at the moment and we are trying to get in touch with his parents," Sector 3 Police Station's SHO, Neeraj Sarna, said.

The SHO said that Harkirat, who was a village sarpanch in Ludhiana district, was taken to Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) by family members where he succumbed to the bullet injury. Asked if they suspect it to be a case of suicide, he replied, "Investigations are being conducted. At this moment, we are not ruling out anything." Sarna said at the time of the incident, Harkirat, who is the grandson of late Beant Singh, was at his residence in upscale Sector 5 here.

On August 31, 1995, the the Chief Minister, 73-year-old Beant Singh, was killed in a suicide bomb blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat in Chandigarh. 17 others too died in the terror attack by Sikh extremists. Beant Singh was CM of Punjab from 1992 to 1995. "We are conducting investigations... Harkirat comes from a political family and his elder brother Gurkirat is a Congress MLA," the SHO said, adding "the circumstances around his death remain unclear so far".