Person
Jathedar Jagdev Singh Khudian
Akali jathedar elected Faridkot MP in 1989 for the Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal. He disappeared on 28 December 1989 and his body was found in a canal about six days later.
Jathedar Jagdev Singh Khudian was born in 1937 and was an agriculturist from the village of Khudian. Wikipedia says he graduated from Khalsa College, Amritsar, and was nominated chairman of the Punjab Marketing Board in 1977. The Tribune says he began as an associate of Parkash Singh Badal and later joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann), the faction led by Simranjit Singh Mann.
Key moments
- 1977: nominated chairman of the Punjab Marketing Board (Wikipedia).
- 1989: elected to the Lok Sabha from Faridkot for the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), the Mann faction.
- 28 December 1989: he disappeared from his home in Khudian village.
- About six days later: his body was fished out of the nearby Rajasthan Feeder Canal. The Quint says he died in mysterious circumstances. Neither it nor Wikipedia gives a cause of death or the result of any inquiry.
What he is remembered for: He was elected in 1989 and disappeared before the year was out, and the published sources we could open leave his death unexplained. The Tribune and The Quint both note that his son, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, later beat Parkash Singh Badal at Lambi in the 2022 Punjab Assembly election, the seat Badal had long held.
Sources
- Jagdev Singh Khuddian, Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
- Meet Gurmeet Khuddian, the man who ended Parkash Singh Badal’s Lambi reign, The Quint. thequint.com
- First-time legislator who beat SAD patriarch now part of Mann cabinet, The Tribune. tribuneindia.com