Former Khalistan leader Satwinder Singh Bhola stabbed to death in Illinois

WASHINGTON: A former Sikh separatist leader was stabbed to death by unidentified assailants outside his apartment in the US city of Illinois.

Satwinder Singh Bhola, 52, the owner of Griswold Grocery & Liquor in Peoria, was parking his car in the parking lot of his apartment complex on Sunday when some unidentified persons attacked him with a knife.

Local police has launched a massive manhunt to nab the assailants. The police has not been able to determine the cause of his murder.

Bhola, according to the police, suffered multiple stab wounds. Preliminary indications are that he died of a stab wound in the neck.

Bhola was nominated as spokesperson of All India Sikh Student Federation at the peak of militancy in Punjab.

Following operation Blue Star in Amritsar, he served a two-year jail sentence. After being released from the jail, Bhola moved to California and from there he moved to Chicago where he was in the hotel business.

He was a son-in-law of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa, who is on hunger strike in Punjab demanding the release of 82 Sikhs lodged in various jails of the country.