The Thursday attack on senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal in Maharashtra continues to draw heated reactions from a number of leaders across both states.
Fresh details have been revealed about the attack on Badal, who had been on his way to the Mata Sahib Gurdwara in Nanded.
Local media reports claim that the attacker was identified as 62-year-old lawyer Jaspal Singh, who had dressed as a Nihang Sikh, and had tried to assault Badal with a kirpan (a Sikh dagger) outside the gurdwara.
Badal allegedly suffered an injury on his left hand in trying to defend himself when the attacker tried to stab his stomach. Inspector Santosh Kendre, who was a part of Badal's security detail, was also injured in the scuffle that followed before the attacker was detained.
Badal later received stitches on that hand after being admitted to the hospital. A video taken just after the attack also shows him with a cloth over his left hand, en route to the hospital.
It is also alleged that Singh had been working for around two years at the Mata Sahib Gurdwara, from where he attacked Badal after an argument. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis ordered an inquiry into the incident, as the police are currently working to uncover the real motive behind the attack.
Notably, this is not the first time that Badal has been attacked, and follows a December 2024 attempt on his life at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
At the time, Badal, who had been commuting a tankhah (religious punishment) by means of community service at the famed Sikh shrine as a sevadar (helper), had been targeted by an armed pro-Khalistan hardliner, Narain Singh Chaura, but managed to escape death.
Badal is now said to be out of danger as efforts are on to find the motive behind the Thursday attack, which has been strongly condemned by the Jathedar of the Akal Takht Sahib, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, who said that violence within gurdwaras was unacceptable.
