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Thu, Dec 05, 2024 | Jumada al-Aakhirah 3, 1446 | DXB
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Narrow escape for Sikh leader as gunman attempts to shoot outside India's Golden Temple
Sukhbir Singh Badal, former deputy chief minister of Punjab state, unharmed; gunman arrested
- By
- Reuters
Security personnel escort Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) party president and former deputy chief minister of India's Punjab state Sukhbir Singh Badal (C) and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, after he was allegedly attacked by a gunman at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Monday. AFP
A gunman shot at a prominent Sikh politician outside the Golden Temple in northern India on Wednesday before police caught and arrested him, in a scare at the popular site that witnessed a bloody clash between Sikh militants and troops four decades ago.
The politician, Sukhbir Singh Badal, former deputy chief minister of Punjab state, was unharmed.
The shooter, identified by police as Narain Singh, 68, was seen in TV footage from news agency ANI walking to the entrance of the temple in Amritsar city, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, and stealthily removing a gun from his pocket to fire at Badal.
He was stopped and pushed away by a policeman in plainclothes who was standing next to Badal, but not before he fired a stray shot, which did not hit anyone, police said.
"Due to the alertness and deployment of our police, this attack attempt was foiled," Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told reporters, adding that the gunman had been arrested.
The reason for the attack was not immediately clear.
Badal, a former ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, was sitting outside the Golden Temple doing a penance ritual imposed on him by the Akal Takht, Sikhism's highest body.
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