CHANDIGARH: The Border Security Force (BSF) will display freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's pistol, with which he shot dead British police officer John Saunders in 1928, in the museum at Joint Check Post (JCP) of Hussaniwala on the India-Pakistan border, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was informed on Monday.
In response to the PIL filed by advocate Hari Chand Arora, an affidavit submitted by Central School of Weapons and Tactics (CSWT) BSF DIG Arun Kumar Tambe stated that the pistol was transferred back to Punjab through an order on April 25, 2017.
This affidavit was filed in response to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Hari Chand Arora, as he had moved the high court in March seeking issuance of directions to BSF and Union Government to return the pistol used by Bhagat Singh to Punjab Government so that it may be displayed in the museum at Khatkar Kalan, the birth place of martyr, where all the other articles relating to him have been displayed.
The CSWT of the Border Security Force in Indore, where the pistol was kept all these years, has now transferred it to the BSF headquarters in Punjab. It will now be sent to Hussaniwala where a new memorial of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev has been constructed.
The pistol, a US-made .32 Colt was last seen in Punjab at the Police Academy, Phillaur on October 7, 1969. It was transferred to the CSWT, Indore in a lot of eight pistols for display by an order of the president.