Amar Singh Chamkila’s killers demanded the keys to his car; driver recalls witnessing the murder, not being able to sleep for 15 days

Interest around the singer Amar Singh Chamkila and his wife Amarjot Kaur’s lives has increased after the release of director Imtiaz Ali’s biopic, which was released on Netflix on April 12 to positive reviews. Chamkila and Amarjot were murdered in the town of Mehsampur in Punjab, in the year 1988, by three masked assassins. Their slaying remains unsolved to this day, increasing speculation about who was responsible. Several of the singers’ old associates have spoken about the day that they were killed, and the events leading up to their murder.

Ranjeet Singh, who worked as Chamkila’s driver, recalled what happened on that fateful day in a chat with Baltej Sran, who has compiled an archive of interviews with Chamkila’s associates on YouTube. Concurring with Chamkila’s secretary Manku, and his dholak player Lal Chand – both of them were also present when Chamkila and Amarjot were killed – Ranjeet Singh said that they all had a meal together before the performance, and that the killers didn’t waste any time in opening fire on them after their arrival.

Also read – Amar Singh Chamkila: Imtiaz Ali set out to make a movie about the slain singer, but he made a movie about himself instead

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He said in Punjabi, “We had a meal together at a nearby house, while Manku walked over to the venue to interact with the crowd. After a few minutes, we heard him tell the audience that Chamkila would be arriving in four-five minutes, which is when we all got into the car and drove over. But as soon as we’d arrived, the firing started.” Ranjeet Singh said that Manku survived because he was near the stage, but Chamkila and Amarjot were killed almost immediately. Lal Chand, who was shot in the crossfire, ran for cover in the nearby fields.

Ranjeet Singh revealed that one of the killers made sure that he couldn’t drive away, and asked him to hand over the keys to the car. “Amarjot would sit in the middle of the back seat, and Chamkila would sit by her side. That dholak players would get off first, but the firing began immediately after everybody exited the car,” he said. Asked if the gunmen threatened him or spoke to him in any way, Ranjeet Singh said, “They didn’t threaten me, but they asked for the keys to the car, which I handed over. They were three men. It was chaos after they started firing. People left their shoes behind as they ran for cover.”

Ranjeeth Singh said that the police arrived some time later, and helped him restart the car. He drove to Phillaur, where he was kept in the police station until 2 pm the next day. Then, Ranjeeth Singh returned the car and Chamkila’s belongings to his family. He said that he was also present during the post-mortem, and was the one who identified Chamkila and Amarjot’s bodies to the police.

Providing more insight into Chamkila’s life and routines, Ranjeet Singh said that the singer never once lost his temper on anybody, and would, as a rule, not drink at the time of a performance. He also treated his entire crew like family, and would often insist that everybody eat together. Ranjeet Singh said that he would drive Chamkila to shows, and then park behind the stage. Chamkila would directly jump into the car after the shows, and avoid large crowds. He said that it took him two weeks to start working again after the killings, because he was shell-shocked. “I couldn’t sleep for 15 days, all I could hear was the bang-bang of the guns,” he said.

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Starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, Amar Singh Chamkila was released on Netflix to positive reviews on April 12.