Shaheed Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi

Khalistan Commando Force

Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi was born in the house of Sardar Gurbachan Singh and from the womb of Mata Gurdeep Kaur in 1968, in village Sharipur, near Dasuya in the Hoshiarpur district. Bhai Daljit Singh was the second eldest of 3 brothers, eldest being Bhai Lembhar Singh alias Balbir Singh, then Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi and youngest Bhai Fhuman Singh. Bhai Daljit Singh was very young when Sardar Gurbachan Singh moved his family house from Sharipur to Bhela Sariala. In this village 95% of locals were Hindu and the land here was very cheap. Sardar Gurbachan Singh had gotten into a land dispute in Bhela Sariala village and in the physical altercation, Sardar Gurbachan Singh killed the other person and was jailed for life.

After Sardar Gurbachan Singh went to jail, it was Mata Gurdeep Kaur that bought up her 3 sons alone. As the family did not have any daughters, everyone called the youngest brother, Bhai Fhuman Singh, ‘Guddi’ with love. After the attack on Sri Harimandir Sahib in June 1984, Bhai Lembhar Singh had left home to join Khalistan Commando Force as the Area Commander of Hoshiarpur, to avenge the spilt blood of innocent Sikhs. Due to this the Punjab police would regularly raid the family house and harass Bhai Daljit Singh as he was the eldest man in the house. Bhai Daljit Singh and Mata Gurdeep Kaur were regularly taken to the police station where they were humiliated. During this time Bhai Sahib was only studying in 8th class.

One day the police officers from CIA Staff arrested Bhai Daljit Singh and tortured him all night, asking him about his older brother’s location. The Thanedar rested the pillars of his bed on Bhai Sahib’s palms and went to sleep. Due to this method of torture, Bhai Sahib’s palms sustained deep wounds and for many days after, he was unable to eat food with his hands. This ill treatment of the police would occur every other day upon Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi.

Once again, the same Thanedar came to Bhai Sahib’s doorstep, as he sat with his mother, Mata Gurdeep Kaur eating his food. The Thanedar shouted, “Bhikhi, I heard you can run pretty fast. Come on, show us how fast you can run today.” Bhai Daljit Singh had already made his mind up of leaving his house and joining the Sikh freedom movement and he walked towards the Thanedar pushing him out of the way and escaping the village. Bhai Sahib joined his brother, Bhai Lembhar Singh and started doing actions with the Jhujaru Singhs of Khalistan Commando Force. During this time Bhai Sahib met Bhai Harwinder Singh Topi, Bhai Rattan Singh Usman Shaheed, Bhai Iqbal Singh Bagha and Bhai Dhanna Singh of Ribeiro action.

On 18th September 1987, Bhai Lembhar Singh alias Balbir Singh attained martyrdom fighting the Indian security forces. After this Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi whole heartedly started doing Jhujaru actions. Bhai Sahib had attained the respect and the love of locals. At a young age Bhai Sahib was very active and intelligent. Seeing the bravery and courage of Bhai Sahib, the senior Jhujaru Singhs of Khalistan Commando Force gave Bhai Sahib the rank of Lieutenant General of the Hoshiarpur area.

One day, Bhai Sahib told his Jhujaru brothers that when he lived at home, he loved drinking cold milk and that he would like to drink it once again. So along with another Jhujaru Singh, Bhai Sahib went to the village of Adha Sran, near Tanda. Both Jhujaru Singhs sat at one shop drinking milk, and all of sudden the local Thanedar came to the same shop and said to the shopkeeper, “If you ever see Bhikhi, make sure you tell me. I want to capture him alive so I can earn my Inspector rank.” Little did this Thanedar know, that a very young aged man who was sitting inside drinking milk was in fact Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi, the man he was looking for. The Thanedar left the shop, but Bhai Sahib quickly ran after him and stopped him saying, “Uncle Ji, what will you do to Bhikhi once you catch him?” Thanedar replied he wanted to earn the rank of an Inspector. Bhai Sahib confidently said, “What if we make you the D.I.G?” The Thanedar was puzzled and asked what Bhai Sahib meant by that statement. Bhai Sahib pulled his pistol out and replied, “Your father Bhikhi, is standing in front of you.” Shooting the Thanedar dead on the spot.

While Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi was alive, he did not allow any bride’s family of his area become a victim of dowry. Bhai Sahib also had many battles with the Indian security forces, and due to being physically fit he escaped unharmed each time. Once Bhai Sahib was passing the village of Balangan, Indian home guards spotted Bhai Sahib and opened fire. Bhai Sahib was shot in his arm and dropped his assault rifle, but as he went to pick it up, Bhai Sahib was shot by another bullet, this time in his foot. Bhai Sahib managed to escape even with these serious injuries and he recovered after many days. After healing Bhai Sahib once again started doing Jhujaru actions. Mata Gurdeep Kaur told us that Bhai Sahib had told her that he was part of the Jhujaru team that assassinated Chamkila and Amarjot.

When Bhai Sahib’s elder brother, Bhai Lembhar Singh attained martyrdom, it was Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi himself who arranged the Sri Akhand Paath Sahib in his own farms. Bhai Sahib got on the stage and made a speech, “I am Daljit Singh Bhikhi, I will be here at my brother’s Bhog till 4 o’clock. Whoever thinks they are brave enough can come and arrest me.” It is said that the Indian security forces cordoned off 1-mile perimeter around the location of Sri Akhand Paath Sahib but no Indian soldiers had the courage to come closer. At 4 o’clock Bhai Sahib shouted war cries of ‘Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal’ and left the area.

In the end, on 15th September 1989 Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi attained martyrdom fighting the Indian security forces in the village of Kaloye, in the Tanda area. The next day, the Punjab police came to get Mata Gurdeep Kaur so she can confirm the identity of her son. When this mother saw the martyred body of her son, she hugged it and kissed Bhai Sahib’s forehead. Mata Gurdeep Kaur then broke off a button of Bhai Sahib’s shirt as a memory of her son, but the cruel police officer snatched the button of Mata Gurdeep Kaur and threw it away. Bhai Sahib’s body was then cremated at the cremation grounds of Dasuya village.

In a police press conference after Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi’s martyrdom, they told the journalists that Bhai Sahib was wanted for 13 plus murders and was martyred in fierce encounter with Indian security forces. They stated: ‘On the night of 15th September around 9.30pm, a truck with Kar Sewa written on it was signaled to stop at a joint checkpoint of Punjab police and BSF personnel on the outskirts of Kandhala Jattan village, which falls under the Tanda police station. The truck failed to make a stop and turned towards Hoshiarpur. The BSF soldiers got into the jeeps and chased the truck. Armed men from the back of the truck started firing at the BSF jeeps. The BSF soldiers also returned fire. This encounter lasted 5-7 minutes. As the truck drove further, a dead body of a 20-year old Amritdhari man fell on the ground from the back of the truck. This man was identified as Daljit Singh Bhikhi, who was wanted for Kagisari action, Alavalpur shootings, Duffar shootings and for many murders in the Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar. There was 50,000 Rupees reward on his head. According to police officers of this case, Bhai Kuljit Singh Dhatt (Sarpanch of Ambala Jattan village), Bhai Jasbir Singh Sodhi and Bhai Satpal Singh alias Pally escaped on the truck. The police recovered one AK47 along with 3 full magazines from the dead body.

Note: Sardar Gurbachan Singh was in jail at time of both his son’s martyrdom. After the martyrdom of their 2 sons, Sardar Gurbachan Singh and Mata Gurdeep Kaur had to live through the martyrdom of their third son too. Bhai Fhuman Singh Guddi was made a martyr of Khalistan on 28th September 1991.

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Daljit Singh Bhikhi