Shaheed Bhai Ravinderbir Singh Bhola

Khalistan Liberation Force

The village of Kaleke is situated in the Amritsar district’s Baba Bakala area. In the village there is a beautifully maintained Gurudwara where the sangat can do darshan of Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s chola, a painted photo of Guru Maharaj and a signature done by their arrow. It was in this village Bhai Ravinderbir Singh Bhola took birth on 21st September 1966 in the house of Captain Harbhajan Singh and from the womb a JBT graduate, Mata Gurdeep Kaur. Bhai Sahib had two brothers, Bhai Jasbir Singh and Bhai Paramjit Singh who worked in the Indian army.

From childhood Bhai Sahib had a religious personality and would daily take part in the morning and evening prayers at his local Gurudwara. After completing his primary education, Bhai Sahib had passed 10th class in 1981-82, and then in 1983-84 Bhai Sahib completed his Draftsman training in Baba Bakala. During this time Sri Darbar Sahib was attacked in June 1984 by the Indian army, which made the Sikh youth pick up arms and seek justice for the destruction of Sri Akaal Takht and also for the innocent killings of Sikhs at the hand of Indian government. Now Bhai Sahib had also started to keep in contact with the local Khadku Singhs of his area discreetly and did sewa in secrecy. Bhai Sahib was close to Khalistan Commando Force’s Bhai Gurmukh Singh Nagoke.

In 1986, Bhai Sahib was given a job at the Electrical board in Kapurthala. On 18th September 1988, Bhai Sahib married Bibi Gurmeet Kaur the daughter of Sardar Bawa Singh from the village of Sidhwan, district Gurdaspur. Bibi Gurmeet Kaur gave birth to Bhai Sahib’s daughter, Bibi Ravneet Kaur.

One day a singh from the Nagoke village, Bhai Sarabjit Singh Shaba was arrested, he could not bear the inhuman torture of the Indian security forces and gave information of Bhai Surjit Singh from the village of Kaleke. Now Bhai Surjit Singh Kaleke was arrested and tortured. Even Bhai Surjit Singh Kaleke gave in to the brutal tortured and gave information of Bhai Sahib’s involvement in the Sikh Freedom Movement. On 7th July 1989, for the first time the Punjab police raided the house of Bhai Sahib, but Bhai Sahib narrowly escaped being arrested. After this Bhai Sahib joined the Sikh Freedom Movement openly and had now joined Khalistan Liberation Force under the command of Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan. Bhai Sahib had soon earned the respect of other singhs in the Sikh struggle for the Khalistan due to his loyalty and bravery.

One day the singhs were planning to hijack all the weapons from the CRPF headquarters based at the Bhuttar railway station. In this meeting Bhai Sahib asked Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan, “Do we really need to kill the CRPF personnel?” Bhai Toofan answered, “If you can complete this mission without killing anyone then do so.” Upon hearing this Bhai Sahib said, “Give me the sewa of this mission.” Bhai Sahib was given the go ahead and he now gathered all his trusted singhs and went to Bhuttar railway station after fully planning the action. Once the singhs approached the railway station, Bhai Sahib quickly ran to one of the CRPF personnel guarding and put an assault rifle to his ear and said, “We are not here to kill you, we only want the weapons and the ammunition. Now take all your colleagues to one room and hand over the key to the weapons storage.” The CRPF personnel were too shocked to react to anything and quietly handed the keys for the storage and moved into one room. Then Bhai Sahib locked the room with all the CRPF personnel from outside. After the singhs took all the weapons and headed back to the Khalistan Liberation Force base shouting war cries of Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal. This action was very much talked about in the villages of Punjab as the singhs had completed this mission without firing a single bullet.

By now Bhai Sahib had done sewa with Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan, Bhai Navneet Singh Kaddian, Bhai Navroop Singh Dhotia and had established a close contact with Khalistan Liberation Force’s chief Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala. Even Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala knew of Bhai Sahib’s bravery and love for Sikhi. Looking at Bhai Sahib, no one could have guessed that he was one of the most dangerous Khadku Singh of the Sikh Freedom Movement. Bhai Sahib seemed like an average person, but for the enemies he was the angel of death. Bhai Sahib was not in favour of taking the life of anyone but at the same time he never spared an evil enemy of the Sikh panth.

One day on the road to Sudhar village in the Baba Bakala area, Bhai Sahib bumped into the same team of Punjab police that had raided Bhai Sahib’s house and had harassed the his family, especially Mata Gurdeep Kaur. The locals of Sudhar village saw Bhai Sahib going in the direction of this group of Punjab police and thought that Bhai Sahib may end up being caught by the Indian security forces. Looking at Bhai Sahib’s face no one could tell what was going on in his mind. The villagers watched Bhai Sahib move closer, this had the locals shocked and worried. When Bhai Sahib got close to the Punjab police, he pulled out his assault rifle which he had been hiding under his shawl and instantly killed 6 security personnel. These police officers were from the Raiay police station and were known to terrorize the families of the singhs in the Sikh Freedom Movement. The police officers use to go to Bhai Sahib’s house and use foul language against Mata Gurdeep Kaur, but when Bhai Sahib finally came in front of them like a lion, the enemy could not find a way to escape. A lone lion hunted 6 corrupt police officers and after punishing them he also took their weapons and ammunition. It was around about this time that Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan attained shaheedi. Seeing the loyalty, bravery and the strength of Bhai Sahib, Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala gave the rank of Lieutenant General of Khalistan Liberation Force to Bhai Sahib.

Due to the heavy presence of security forces in Punjab, the singhs decided to hold meetings and do actions from outside the Punjab. Following this Bhai Sahib, Bhai Gurmeet Singh Fauji, Bhai Navroop Singh Dhotia, Bhai Surjit Singh Kaleke and Bhai Bhindu from the village of Bijnor started keeping an eye on a bank in Dehradun. All these singhs wanted to carry out a bank robbery to help fund the Sikh Freedom Movement. On the day of the heist, the gunman at the bank fired bullets as soon as he saw the singhs, but being a brave soul Bhai Sahib quickly ran to the guard and grabbed his gun. At this point a bullet had pierced through Bhai Sahib’s hand, but even then Bhai Sahib showed the gunman how strong the singhs are. After completing the heist, Bhai Sahib and fellow singhs safely reached the jungles of Uttar Pardesh. All the doctors, Pharmacies and medical centres were alerted to keep an eye out for man with a bullet wound in the hand and if they came across someone with this wound then to let the police know. For this reason Bhai Sahib did not get his hand treated nor did he get any medication. Rest of the singhs except Bhai Sahib and Bhai Surjit Singh Kaleke returned back to Punjab.

Bhai Sahib and Bhai Surjit Singh Kaleke were travelling on a rickshaw and got off at the train station, but wanting the reward for capture of the singhs the rickshaw man told the police present at the train station that the man with a wounded hand has just got off his rickshaw and got on the train. Bhai Sahib had just sat on the train when all of sudden the police grabbed him and arrested Bhai Sahib. It is said that Bhai Sahib swallowed a Sy-Nyde capsule but still survived. Then for some time Bhai Sahib was kept at the Meroth jail for the Dehradun bank case. In Punjab Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala ordered the singhs to kidnap sons and relatives of politicians and high ranking police officers. The grandson of Ludhiana’s politician Madan Mohan Mital and a relative of Home Minister Buta Singh were amongst the kidnapped. After the singhs of Khalistan Liberation Force sent a message to have Bhai Sahib released from Dehradun, if not then all the kidnapped people will be killed. Under the pressure the government decided to release Bhai Sahib. The police bought Bhai Sahib to Beas police station and then dropped him off at the local school of Kaleke. After, all the kidnapped people were released by the singhs too. This action had earned the singhs even more respect in the eye of the public.

During Bhai Sahib’s Jhujaru life he showed his bravery in many places including Jalandhar. There are many stories of Bhai Sahib, fellow singhs of Bhai Sahib respectfully tell these stories of Bhai Sahib’s bravery. Bhai Sahib knew that his Jhujaru life will soon come to an end and that day of martyrdom soon came.

It was the 4th May 1991, a local of Kaleke village informed the police that Bhai Sahib is in the village. Soon Bhai Sahib found himself surrounded by the Indian security forces. At that time Bhai Sahib was unarmed and the security forces knew that if they arrest Bhai Sahib then the Khalistan Liberation Force will somehow free him and they did not want to make the same mistake of catching Bhai Sahib alive. The police chief ordered his team to fire bullets on Bhai Sahib and kill him. This was how another warrior of the Sikh Freedom Movement coloured the ground with his blood. Khalistan Liberation Force and other freedom fighting groups were extremely sad for the loss of a great lieutenant general, Shaheed Bhai Ravinderbir Singh Bhola.

Khalsa Fatehnama – May 2013