KEHAR SIṄGH, BHĀĪ (1869-1921), one of the Nankāṇā Sāhib martyrs, was the eldest of the three sons of Bhāī Jīvan Siṅgh and Māī Harnām Kaur of the village of Jarg, in Paṭiālā state. Kehar Siṅgh grew up into a strongly-built, fair-complexioned, young man much interested in wrestling and weight-lifting. In 1887, he joined army service during which he rendered distinguished service in several anti-tribesmen operations in the North-West Frontier Province winning seven medals. He was a known marksman in his battalion.

         Bhāī Kehar Siṅgh remained a bachelor until towards the end of his service when he married the childless widow of a comrade who had died while still in service. He retired from the army in 1908 after 21 years of meritorious service on a pension of Rs 7 per month.

         As the Gurdwārā Reform movement got under way, Bhāī Kehar Siṅgh registered himself as a volunteer with Bhāī Lachhmaṇ Siṅgh's jathā. As he prepared to set out in obedience to the Panth's call on 19 February 1921, his young son, Darbārā Siṅgh, defying the wishes of his father and entreaties of his grandmother, accompanied him. Both father and son met their end at the hands of the hired assassins of Mahant Naraiṇ Dās inside the sanctum sanctorum of Gurdwārā Janam Asthān, Nankāṇā Sāhib, on the morning of 20 February 1921. The boy, it is said, was burnt alive.

         The Shiromaṇī Gurdwārā Parbandhak Committee settled upon his grandmother a pension of Rs 135 per annum.

        See NANKĀṆĀ SĀHIB MASSACRE