Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Sunday wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah, seeking a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the Aug 13 dagger attack on her husband and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal in Nanded, Maharashtra.In her letter, Harsimrat said the attack, in which Sukhbir Badal suffered injuries to his right arm, raised serious questions about the possibility of “a larger conspiracy”. She also sought that the Dec 4, 2024, attack on the SAD chief at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar be investigated alongside the latest incident to determine whether the two cases were connected.The attack on Aug 13 occurred as Sukhbir Badal and his family were leaving a Nanded gurdwara after paying obeisance. According to Harsimrat, the assailant attacked her husband “with a sword with the clear intention of assassinating him”.She stated that the situation could have been fatal had a security officer intervened.She wrote that the attack had caused “profound concern” about the normalisation of violence in Punjab.Harsimrat drew parallels between the two attacks, pointing out that both incidents took place at religious shrines while Sukhbir Badal was engaged in religious service. She said the attacks raised questions over whether he was being targeted because of what she described as his position as a “moderate voice of Punjab” and advocate of peace and communal harmony.The Akali Dal MP also raised serious allegations regarding the handling of the 2024 attack by the Punjab Police.Referring to the alleged extremist antecedents of the attacker, Narain Singh Chaura, she questioned how he was able to gain access to Sukhbir Badal inside the Golden Temple complex.She further alleged that the circumstances surrounding Chaura’s interactions with police officials before the attack warranted an independent investigation. “Senior local police officer Harpal Singh Randhawa, then SP, was seen mixing freely with the assailant and sharing jokes and laughter with him two days before the assassination attempt. These circumstances raise serious questions about whether there was any form of police connivance or prior knowledge. Such questions can only be conclusively addressed through an independent investigation,” she wrote.Harsimrat also criticised the then Amritsar police commissioner, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, alleging that soon after the attack he appeared to suggest that it “could have been staged by Sukhbir Badal himself to garner sympathy”.She wrote, “Instead of focusing on the assailant and the security failure, the victim appeared to have been placed under suspicion.”The Bathinda MP also questioned the initial registration and investigation of the 2024 case, alleging that statements of Sukhbir Badal, his security personnel and the officer who intervened were not recorded at the outset.The latest attack, she said, made an independent probe imperative, particularly because Punjab is a border state and any involvement of extremist, inter-state or foreign-backed networks could have implications beyond a local law-and-order matter. “The two attacks on Sukhbir Badal also have potential inter-state ramifications and must be investigated from the wider perspective of national security,” Harsimrat added.Seeking that the NIA examine the two attacks, possible links between them and any alleged failure or complicity of public officials, she wrote, “Only an independent central investigation can establish the full chain of events.”
