Bhai Satwant Singh, son of Bhai Tarlok Singh, of village Agwan (district Gurdaspur), and Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh, son of Bhai Suchcha Singh, a resident of Maloa (district Ropar), killed Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister. The assassination of Indira Gandhi was motivated by Operation Blue Star, the attack on the Sikh "Golden Temple" in Amritsar, which had been thought to be occupied by armed Sikh revolutionaries. Satwant Singh and Beant Singh fired around sixteen bullets into Indira Gandhi's chest and abdomen.

After killing Indira Gandhi both of them surrendered. Both of them were showered with bullets. Bhai Beant Singh died at the spot but Bhai Satwant Singh survived. Bhai Kehar Singh, an uncle of Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh, was arrested on the charges of joining conspiracy to murder Indira Gandhi. Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Kehar Singh refused to make a petition for mercy. They were hung in Tihar jail, Delhi, on January 6, 1989. Their bodies were cremated in jail and their ashes were submerged in a river under the army escort. Before their martyrdom they had said that we had done everything after full consideration and could repeat the same, if necessary. Kehar Singhs sons were dismissed from jobs by the Delhi administration simply because they were the sons of Bhai Kehar Singh.