Chando Kalan raid, then firing at Mehta Chowk

Who: Victims: the jatha of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the village of Chando Kalan. Perpetrators: the police. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says a combined force of Punjab and Haryana police raided the village to arrest Bhindranwale, whom the government suspected of the Jagat Narain killing. The Caravan says a Punjab Police team went there on a warrant against him.

What: Between the September 9 killing and September 20, police raided Chando Kalan, where Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's jatha was staying, fired on it, looted, and burned saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the jatha's buses. No deaths at Chando Kalan are recorded in the sources. Bhindranwale returned to Mehta Chowk and offered arrest on September 20, 1981; police fired on the sangat there and killed at least 12.

Where: Chando Kalan, Hisar district, Haryana, where Bhindranwale's jatha was camping (the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and The Caravan both place it in Hisar district). Then Mehta Chowk, Amritsar district, Punjab.

Why it mattered: The Caravan calls the firing at Mehta Chowk, which killed 12 people, "unnecessary" and says it "has never been investigated". It adds that implicating Bhindranwale in the Jagat Narain case "proved to be a mistake, only increasing his popularity in the state". The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says that his offer of arrest on 20 September "was followed by a spate of violence".