During the period of militancy in Punjab, Jaswant Singh Khalra worked as the director of a bank located in the city of Amritsar. In the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, the police were granted broad powers to detain suspects under the guise of counter-terrorism measures. However, reports emerged that the police were involved in killing unarmed individuals in staged encounters and destroying evidence by burning thousands of dead bodies.
Despite the risks, Khalra investigated four major cases simultaneously and collected evidence and witness accounts. These cases included the custodial killing of Behla, the use of human shields leading to the death of seven civilians, the cremation of 25,000 unidentified bodies in Punjab, and allegations that the police had killed around 2,000 police officers who refused to participate in counter-terrorism operations. The Central Bureau of Investigation, a government agency, eventually determined that the police had illegally cremated 2,097 people in Tarn Taran district alone.