Forty years ago today, Harbans Singh Manchanda, the President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), was fatally shot at the ITO roundabout in New Delhi. Alongside him, four individuals, including his driver, DSGMC Vice President Jagdish Singh Lamba, Assistant Sub-Inspector Pritam Singh, and security guard Gurcharan Singh, sustained serious injuries during the incident. Reminded today by the Indian Express in its column, ‘Forty Years Ago’, The World Sikh News revisits the case.

HARBANS SINGH MANCHANDA, recognized for his staunch support of the Congress party, faced the ire of the Panth as he endorsed the ban on the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) on March 19, 1984, and tauntingly asked Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to leave Darbar Sahib Amritsar. Apart from this, he was rabidly against the Panthic voice and followed the diktats of the Congress Party detrimental to the Sikh cause.

According to the then newspaper and magazine reports, particularly India Today, two members of the AISSF were involved in the attack at a traffic crossing near ITO. A year following the event, reports surfaced of AISSF activist Virsa Singh, under police custody, confessing to the assassination alongside Gurinder Singh Bhola, Amarjit Singh Chawla, and others. It was alleged that Virsa Singh and Amarjit Singh fired at Manchanda from close range before fleeing in a vehicle, which was later discovered abandoned.

However, a city court acquitted the accused, Virsa Singh and Amarjit Singh Chawla, in 2004, citing insufficient evidence to establish their guilt conclusively.

This event remains a significant chapter in the history of the Sikh community in Delhi, marking a period of political tension and violence.