A former Indian policeman says he killed a Sikh minister

A former Indian police officer on trial in the Punjabi state capital, Chandigarh, has suddenly admitted he masterminded the assassination of a senior Sikh politician two years ago.

The policeman, Balwant Singh, told the court he had plotted the killing of Beant Singh, then the Punjab chief minister, for his repression of the Sikhs.

Balwant Singh said he was ready to face any punishment for his crime.

The chief minister and sixteen other people were killed by a suicide bomber in August 1995; he had played a major role in crushing the Sikh separatist uprising in Punjab in the early 1990s.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service