Gandhi Conviction Thrown Out

The Supreme Court today threw out the conviction and death sentence of a former security official in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and ordered him released immediately.

But the three-judge panel upheld the convictions and death sentences of two other Sikhs in the Oct. 31, 1984, killing. The court said prosecutors failed to prove conspiracy charges against Balbir Singh, who was arrested more than a month after the slaying, accepting the appeal of the former sub-inspector in Gandhi’s security guard. But it rejected appeals by Satwant Singh, a police constable who was one of Gandhi’s bodyguards, and Kehar Singh, a government official. Singh is a Sikh title, not a surname.