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. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says the police fired on the jatha, its luggage was looted and some of the sacred texts were burnt. The Caravan says the police ransacked the village and burned two of 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. The Caravan says the police opened fire there and killed 12 people. The Tribune reports 16 Sikhs killed, and All About Sikhs, citing Dilgeer and Sekhon, gives 12, or 22 according to some sources.

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".