Granthi Surinder Singh of Gurdwara Pul Bangash

Surinder Singh was the Head Granthi of Gurdwara Pul Bangash, near Azad Market in Delhi, in November 1984. He is known from his evidence to the Nanavati Commission, which appears in its report as Witness No. 147.

What he told the commission: According to the commission's report, he described the attack on the gurdwara at about 9 a.m. on 1 November 1984 and said the mob that attacked it was led by Jagdish Tytler, then the Congress (I) MP of the area. He said Tytler incited the mob to burn the gurdwara and kill Sikhs, that the mob then attacked the gurdwara and burnt it, and that one Badal Singh was burnt alive. He added that Tytler contacted him on 10 November 1984 and asked him to sign on two sheets of paper.

The reply: Tytler pointed to a later affidavit of 5 August 2002 in which the witness said he did not know what was written in his earlier statement, because he cannot read or write English, and that he had not seen Tytler in the mob. Tytler also said that on 1 November 1984 he was at 1 Safdarjung Road, where Indira Gandhi's body lay in state, and that he did not go near the gurdwara that day.

What the commission made of it: The commission noted that the witness had filed no affidavit earlier before the Misra Commission or any other authority, but said that was not a good ground for disbelieving him. It said his later affidavit "is not of much value" and was "probably obtained by persuasion or under pressure", and that if he had really not seen Tytler in the mob he would not have come to give evidence. He was not called for cross-examination by Tytler. Relying on all the material before it, not on this witness alone, the commission recorded that there was credible evidence that Tytler very probably had a hand in organizing attacks on Sikhs, and recommended that the Government look into it.

He is remembered as the granthi whose testimony put the burning of Gurdwara Pul Bangash before a national inquiry.