A day after the chief judicial magistrate, Chandigarh, issued a non-bailable warrant, Shamsher Singh, one of the convicts behind the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, surrendered before a local court on Wednesday.

This was the second such warrant issued after his premature release request was declined by the UT administration. Shamsher, a native of Patiala, had been behind bars since his arrest in 1995. In mid-June last year, he moved the local court for his release on bail as the UT administration had not decided on his premature release petition.

On September 20, he was granted interim bail on a surety of ₹2 lakh. He was released in view of the order of the Punjab and Haryana high court in January, 2023 regarding release of all those convicts on regular bail who had completed their life sentence but the decision of their premature release was pending.

However, his premature release request was declined by the Chandigarh Administration this year, following which the CJM court issued notice to Shamsher Singh to surrender.

Beant Singh was killed in an explosion outside the civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The special CBI court had awarded the death penalty to Balwant Rajoana in July 2007. It also awarded death penalty to Jagtar Singh Hawara and life imprisonment to Gurmeet Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Shamsher Singh in August 2007.

On May 10 and June 2 last year, the CJM had released Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh on interim bail.