Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh’s killer Amir Sarfaraz shot dead in Pakistan’s Lahore

Amir Sarfaraz alias  Tamba, an accused in the brutal killing of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Kot Lakhpat jail in 2013, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Lahore on Sunday, news agency PTI reported,

The report said Tamba, a close associate of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit founder Hafiz Sayeed, was attacked by motorcycle-borne assailants in the capital city of Pakistan Punjab. Tamba was rushed in critical condition to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, PTI reported citing sources.

Tamba was born in Lahore in 1979 and was a close associate of the LeT founder. 

Also Read | Telcos may report flattish revenues in Jan-Mar; tariff hikes, VI fundraise eyed

It is important to note that Tamba was killed six years after he and his ally Mudassir Munir were acquitted by a Pakistani court due to ‘lack of evidence’, in the brutal killing of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, 49, in Kot Lakhpat jail in 2013. 

Singh was killed in captivity by attacking him with bricks and iron rods in 2013. At the time of the incident, both were in jail after their conviction in another criminal case. Later, he died of cardiac arrest in Jinnah Hospital Lahore in the wee hours of May 2, 2013, after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault inside the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.

Also Read | Top news of the day: Israel-Iran G7 leaders meet, BJP poll manifesto, and more

Sarabjit Singh was a farmer from Bhikhiwind town in Punjab, who used to live near the India-Pakistan border, and who mistakenly crossed the border while he was drunk. Sarabjit was imprisoned in Pakistan jail on charges of espionage and was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in 1991.

During his two-decade-long stint in Pakistan’s jail, his sister Dalbir Kaur fought against the system to release her brother. Kaur claimed that his brother was a victim of mistaken identity and started a legal battle to bring his brother back to India. Soon, her efforts caught the attention of national and international media.