Bhai Mehtab Singh Bhangu

Bhai Mehtab Singh was a Sikh of Meeran Kot (also written Mirankot) in Amritsar district, a member of a jatha, or band, that was camped at Jaipur in Rajasthan when news reached it of the desecration of Sri Harmandir Sahib. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and Panthic.org both place the jatha at Jaipur; the Encyclopaedia names its leader as Sardar Shiam Singh, and Panthic.org names no leader. The Sikh Missionary Society mentions no jatha and no Jaipur, and says that the Sikhs in Bikaner heard the news.

The desecrator was Masse Khan Ranghar, a Ranghar Rajput landlord of Mandiali village who had converted to Islam. Zakariya Khan, the Mughal governor of Lahore, made him kotwal of Amritsar and told him to keep Sikhs from the Harimandar and its tank. Instead Masse Khan stationed himself inside the sanctum and held revels there with women of ill repute (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism). Other accounts say he used the premises as stables and the main hall as a dancing room (Panthic.org).

• Mehtab Singh vowed revenge and went to Amritsar with Bhai Sukha Singh, with the permission of the jatha's chief (Panthic.org). Finding the approaches guarded, they posed as revenue officials, or village chaudharies, bringing the land revenue. Their bags held broken pieces of clay shaped like coins. When Masse Khan bent to look, Mehtab Singh struck off his head. The two rode back to their jatha with it (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; Sikh Missionary Society; Panthic.org). The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism dates the killing to 11 August 1740; Panthic.org says August 1740 and the Sikh Missionary Society 1740.
• Zakariya Khan ordered a manhunt. Mehtab Singh's infant son survived, and the man who helped him escape was killed (Panthic.org).
• 1745, five years later: Mehtab Singh went to his village, where an informer betrayed him. He was taken to Lahore and executed on the charkhari, a wheel set with sharp teeth or iron nails (Sikh Missionary Society; Panthic.org).
• Sukha Singh was killed fighting the Mughal army on the banks of the Ravi in 1753 (Sikh Missionary Society).

Sikh tradition remembers the killing as the answer to the Beadbi done at Sri Harmandir Sahib. The family of Major General Shabeg Singh, remembered as a Shaheed of Operation Blue Star, traced its lineage to Mehtab Singh, according to a biography of the General on shaheed-khalsa.com, which reports his mother telling the children they were descendants of Baba Mehtab Singh.