The controversial operation had far-reaching consequences and was followed by the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, and the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi.
It was in September 1981 that the Punjab Police decided to arrest Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, head of the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal, for his alleged role in the conspiracy to assassinate Lala Jagat Narain, an MP, and chief editor and proprietor of the Jalandhar-based Hind Samachar Group of papers, who was shot dead on September 9.