Not many may know that Janki Sir Kilo was the code name for human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, said Kikkar Singh, a key witness in the case of Khalra’s kidnapping, torture, and murder.The Diljit Dosanjh-starrer film ‘Satluj’, based on Khalra’s life and later removed from ZEE5, has revived painful memories of the militancy years for Singh. Shown as dead in the film, Kikkar feels fortunate to be alive. He recalls how he carried Khalra’s last message to his family.Singh, then 24, hailed from Jaura village in Tarn Taran, which was then part of Amritsar district. His family had shifted to Ludhiana in 1989, during the peak of militancy, fearing that police might kill their children in staged encounters.Kikkar, who was in Patiala on Wednesday, said he was first picked up in connection with a land dispute case and kept at Jhabal Chowki. He was later moved to Kang Chowki and lodged in the same cell where Khalra was held.He said Khalra was being tortured in Kang Chowki and told him, “Jalladan de vas pai haan.”“Kikkar claimed Khalra was tortured so badly that he could not even pick up the roti offered to him. “I was the one who offered him nearly one-and-a-half rotis. Little did I know that it would turn out to be Khalra’s last meal, as he was later taken from the police station and disappeared,” Kikkar recalled.He said a chance meeting with Khalra changed his life forever.Kikkar said he was picked up by police on September 4 and kept at the Jhabal police chowki. On September 6, Khalra was brought to the station but was taken away within minutes.“There was commotion and I was curious to see who had been brought in. I saw Khalra. He was there for a few minutes and then taken away,” said Kikkar.“I used to keep a penny in my pocket and would scribble things on the wall of the lock-up. Little did I know that it would later become clinching evidence in the CBI trial,” he said.Kikkar was released on September 14, only to be picked up again on October 14.“First I was kept at the Pandori Sidwan police chowki. On the morning of October 24, I was taken to the Kang police chowki. Everyone knew it was a place where people picked up by police were tortured. In a corner of the lock-up sat Jaswant Singh Khalra. I can never forget that image. He was wearing a rug and sitting in a corner.”“Suddenly a wireless message came in: Cuback 2 Charlie. That was the code name for DSP Jaspal Singh. It was said: ‘Take Janki Sir Kilo’ — the code name for Jaswant Singh Khalra. It meant Khalra was being called by DSP Jaspal Singh. The cops wanted to take him away, but I told them Khalra had not eaten anything since morning,” Kikkar recalled.“I asked him, ‘Who are you? I saw you on September 6.’ Khalra said he was human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra from Kabir Park, Amritsar. He told me, ‘Jalladan de vas pai haan hun’,” Kikkar said.Soon, the cops offered us roti. Khalra’s condition was so bad that he could barely eat with his own hands.“Before leaving, he asked me to deliver a message to his family that he was being kept at the Kang police station,” said Kikkar.“After that, I was sent to jail. I told fellow inmates that I had met Khalra at the Kang police station. The message reached Khalra’s family, and the killer cops also got to know about it,” he said.“As soon as I was released from jail in November, there was an attempt to kill me. But I survived. I met Khalra’s family and gave them the message. I managed to reach Ludhiana and resumed my trucking job. When I returned, CBI had reopened the case and made me a witness along with cop Kuldeep Singh,” said Kikkar.“Since then, my life changed completely. I was implicated in five cases and spent nearly three years in jail. Initially I was given security cover, which has now been reduced,” said Kikkar, who studied till Class 5 and has a wife and three children.Kikkar added that he was hurt to see himself, his wife, and his father shown as killed in an encounter in the film, while his father Harbans Singh actually died a natural death in 2023.