Who was Balwinder Singh Jattana, the person mentioned in Sidhu Moosewala’s SYL song?

New Delhi: An unreleased song of late singer Sidhu Moosewala was finally unveiled on Thursday on his official YouTube channel, after being leaked on various video platforms last week.

The song based on Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal became a massive hit within minutes of its release, crossing the landmark of 1 million views in the first 30 minutes.

The song, which was penned as well as sung by Moose Wala, mentions Balwinder Singh Jattana in it, which has now become a matter of curiosity for the listeners.

Who was Balwinder Singh Jattana? 

Jatana, who was hailed as a ‘Sikh Liberation Hero’ by some, had shot dead two officers in Chandigarh along with his associates, due to which the construction work of the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal project was stopped in Punjab at the time.

The incident occurred in July 1990, during an official meeting regarding the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal in Sector 26, Chandigarh. Through the project, the water of Punjab was to be shared with Haryana and Delhi.

It is said that Jattana, a resident of Ropar, crashed the ongoing meeting with his accomplice Balbir Singh Fauji, Jagtar Singh Pinjola and Harmeet Singh Bhaowal, and opened fire on the officials.

The Jattana-led group had killed SYL’s Chief Engineer and Superintending Engineer MS Sikri and Avtar Aulakh.

Investigation and claims 

The state police started a lookout for Jattana and other individuals involved in the killing. The police searched for Jattana at his residence, where he wasn’t found, but his family was reportedly detained.

According to a leading Hindi daily, Jattana’s other accomplice Nirpreet Kaur had claimed that the cops along with the help of a Poohla Nihang had burnt alive 4 members of Jattan’s family.

The persons who died involved Jattana’s grandmother Dwarki Kaur, aunt Jamsher Kaur, sister Manpreet Kaur and nephew Simranjit Singh. Nirpreet Kaur further confirmed that Jatana had killed the engineers.

Later it came into light that Jattana was a militant of pro-Khalistan outfit Babbar Khalsa and a monetary reward of Rs. 16 lakh was set on his head. Balwinder Singh Jattana was shot dead in a police encounter in 1991.