Archive · 10 Aug 2026
40 Years Ago: Badal, Tohra Arrested in 1986 News Roundup
This newspaper story comes from the archives — it tells readers what happened on August 10, 1986, exactly forty years ago.
That day, two well-known Indian leaders, Prakash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra, were arrested.
The police in Delhi had ordered that these two men could not enter the capital city for one whole month.
But the two leaders said they did not accept that order and tried to enter anyway at the Singhu border.
In another place called Trincomalee, Tamil militants shot at a group of soldiers, and two Tamil people — including a child — were killed.
Four security force members were also hurt in that attack.
The police also caught a man named Manbir Singh Chaheru, the chief of the Khalistan commando force, and found guns and many bullets in his hideouts.
Far away, the United States government said it would keep testing nuclear weapons, even though six world leaders asked it to stop.
The US explained that the tests were needed because the Soviets had built up many weapons, which the US called a 'dangerous disparity.'
Former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and former Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra were arrested for violating externment orders barring them from the Union Territory of Delhi for one month.
The two dissident Akali leaders refused to accept the orders after a long wrangle with Delhi Police at the Singhu border and forced their way into the city.
Two Tamils, including a child, were killed and four security personnel injured when Tamil militants fired on a foot patrol in the Trincomalee district.
Police arrested Manbir Singh Chaheru, alias General Hari Singh, chief of the Khalistan commando force, and recovered sophisticated arms from his hideouts in village Bootan.
The US State Department rejected appeals from six world leaders and insisted nuclear weapons must be tested to counter the 'massive Soviet build-up'.
- Who
- Prakash Singh Badal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Tamil militants, Khalistan commando force chief Manbir Singh Chaheru, and the US State Department
- What
- Arrests of two Akali leaders in Delhi, a militant attack on a foot patrol in Trincomalee, the arrest of a terrorist with recovered arms, and the US rejection of appeals to stop nuclear testing
- When
- August 10, 1986 (reported 40 years later in the archives)
- Where
- Singhu border and Delhi, the Trincomalee district, and village Bootan on a city's outskirts
- Why
- Badal and Tohra violated externment orders; militants fired on security forces near a refugee camp; police acted against a Khalistan commander; the US cited the Soviet build-up to justify continuing nuclear tests
Critics of Government Actions
Government and US Positions
Nuclear testing
Critics of Government Actions
Six world leaders appealed to the United States to halt nuclear testing.
Government and US Positions
The US State Department said testing must continue to counter the 'massive Soviet build-up' and preserve international security.
Externment orders
Critics of Government Actions
Badal and Tohra refused to accept the externment orders and forced their way into Delhi.
Government and US Positions
Delhi authorities barred them from entering the Union Territory for one month and arrested them when they violated the orders.
- Events date
- August 10, 1986
- Externment order
- One-month ban on entering the Union Territory of Delhi
- Arrest location
- Singhu border
- Trincomalee attack casualties
- 2 Tamils (including a child) killed; 4 security personnel injured
- Patrol origin
- Kattaparaichan
- Recovered weapons
- 1 light machine gun, 1 SLR, 1 Springfield rifle, 2 muscats, 2 .303 rifles, 1 double bore gun, 1,082 cartridges
- US position
- Rejected appeals from six world leaders to halt nuclear testing; cited the Soviet build-up
- US State Department spokesman
- Charles E Redman