Sarabjit Singh - Arrest and Prosecution

Arrest and Prosecution

After accomplishing his mission, Sarbajit was caught on an unmarked Indo-Pakistani border area into Pakistan where he was arrested by the Pakistan Rangers in the Khalra border sector near Kasur. Sarabjit and his supporters claimed that the arrest was a case of mistaken identity and that he was only a poor farmer who was drunk and had strayed over the border. His sister said that the family launched a search but could not find any clue to his whereabouts for nine months. Finally they received a letter from Sarabjit after a year informing them that he had been arrested in Pakistan as Manjit Singh as he had no identification papers and had been charged by the Lahore police in the bombings. He was convicted of spying and carrying out the bombings and was given the death penalty.

Some sources say that he was initially arrested on the charges of illegally crossing the India-Pakistan border. But after eight days, the Pakistani police charged him with being involved in the 1990 terror blasts at Faisalabad and Lahore. The authorities claimed that he was 'Manjit Singh' and had been responsible for the four blasts which killed 14 people, and had been arrested while returning to India after carrying out the bombings.. He was accused of working for the Indian Intelligence Service and was viewed as a terrorist in Pakistan. He subsequently confessed on camera to the bombings.

It has been reported that Manjit Singh was later apprehended in Canada, and later in India.

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