Jathedar Santokh Singh of Delhi

Jathedar Santokh Singh was the president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (the DSGMC, which Gurmit Singh's History of Sikh Struggles calls the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) in 1981, the year he was murdered. Gurmit Singh calls him a Congress (I) activist and a "protege of Home Minister Zail Singh", and says he was believed to be acting as a contact-man between Giani Zail Singh and Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

Key moments

• 25 March 1970: Sant Fateh Singh named him the Akali Dal's official candidate for a Rajya Sabha seat, overruling Chief Minister Gurnam Singh, who favoured Giani Bhupinder Singh, a former head priest of the Golden Temple. Gurmit Singh says Bhupinder Singh stood as an independent and, with Gurnam Singh's secret support, defeated him on that day.
• 8 December 1975: Gurmit Singh says he and Giani Zail Singh spoke at the Ram Lila Ground in Delhi, where Indira Gandhi addressed a large Sikh gathering on the martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur, and praised her for marrying her son Sanjay Gandhi into a Sikh family.
• 20 September 1981: he sat on the stage at Chowk Mehta when Bhindranwale offered himself for arrest. Gurmit Singh says he flew down from Delhi twice that day, held talks with the Sant, and gave a very emotional speech. Khushwant Singh also names him among the crowd that gathered.
• 27 September 1981: with Gurcharan Singh Tohra, he called for Bhindranwale's immediate release at an Akhand Path gathering at Gurdwara Kalgidhar, Patiala. A court held inside Ferozepur Central Jail ordered the Sant's unconditional release on 15 October.
• October 1981: Gurmit Singh says that after his release Bhindranwale tried to unite the Akali factions led by Tohra, Jagdev Singh Talwandi and Jathedar Santokh Singh of Delhi.
• 21 December 1981: murdered. Gurmit Singh gives 21 December and does not say who killed him. Khushwant Singh dates the murder 22 December and says only that it was done "by a rival". He adds that Bhindranwale was present at the funeral ceremonies, with Giani Zail Singh, Buta Singh and Rajiv Gandhi.

He had four sons and a daughter, according to the Carleton University biography of his second son, Manjit Singh GK, who later became president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee; the biography says Santokh Singh was assassinated in 1981. He is remembered as the Delhi Akali leader who stood on the stage at Chowk Mehta beside Bhindranwale, and as the committee president murdered in December 1981.