The digging at 'Shaheedan da Khu' ended today with the recovery of mortal remains of 282 Indian soldiers who were dumped in the well by British troops about 157 years ago.
The digging which commenced on February 28 at Ajnala town, close to the Indo-Pak border, was carried out by volunteers of local NGOs and Gurdwara management committees.
Besides skeletons, 60 currency coins belonging to the 1857 era and army gold medals were also found in the well, police said.
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According to local Gurdwara management committee head Amarjit Singh Sarkaria and NGOs led by historian Surinder Kochar, around 500 Indian soldiers had revolted at Mian Mir Cantonment in Lahore during the 1857 mutiny and swam across the Ravi river to reach Ajnala town of Amritsar.
Of them, 218 were killed by British soldiers at Dadian Sofian village near here.
The remaining 282 were incarcerated in a cage-like room. While many of them died of asphyxiation, the rest were shot dead and their bodies thrown into a well, which later came to be known as "Kalianwala Khu".
While 'khu' means a well, the word 'kalianwala' has been derived from 'kale' (blacks), as the colonialists used to call the Indians. This site is also known as 'Shaheedan da Khu' (Well of Martyrs).
Kochar demanded that a permanent area be sanctioned by the government for a memorial where the mortal remains could be kept.
