Lakhpat Rai (? – 1748), a Khatri Hindu from Kalanaur, was a minster of Zakaria Khan as well as Yahiya Khan, the Governors of Lahore. He had two brothers Jaspat Rai and Narpat Rai. In 1736, when Zakaria Khan formed a Gashti Fauj (mobile column) to search for and arrest/kill each and every Sikh, Lakhpat too joined it. They killed several Sikhs. Once, these troops were attacked by the Sikh army. During this attack several soldiers of the Mogul troops, including Duni Chand (nephew of Lakhpat Rai), were killed. In 1745, Yahiya Khan succeeded Zakaria Khan. He too appointed Lakhpat Rai as his minister. During this period, In January-February 1746, a unit of the Sikh soldiers had taken refuge in a thicket, near the village Baddoke Gusaian. When Jaspat Rai came to know it, he attacked the thicket. In the battle Bhai Nibahu Singh Ranghreta, catching hold of the tail of the elephant that Jaspat was riding on, climbed on the back of the elephant and chopped off head of Jaspat Rai. When Jaspat was killed his army fled the scene immediately. The Sikhs took the head of Jaspat with themselves. Kirpa Ram, a teacher of Jaspat paid rupees five hundred to the Sikhs and got the head of Jaspat for cremation. After the death of Jaspat, Lakhpat Rai became a sworn enemy of the Sikhs. Infuriated Lakhpat took a vow to annihilate the Sikh nation. He arrested all the Sikhs living in and around Lahore and killed them. On March 10, 1746, he killed more than one thousand Sikhs at Lahore. After this, the Mogul army, under the personal leadership of Lakhpat Rai and Yahiya Khan, besieged the Sikhs. During this siege, on May 1, 1746, more than seven thousand Sikhs were killed at Kahnuwan (district Gurdaspur). During these operations Lakhpat, however, lost his own son Harbhaj Rai. Besides the killings of the Sikhs, Lakhpat Rai proclaimed that any one using the words Gurh (molasses) and Granth (religious book) should be severely punished (Gurh resemble Guru and Granth reminded of Guru Granth Sahib). The persecution of the Sikhs continued till March 1748. In April 1748, Muin-ul-Malik (Mir Mannu) became the governor of Lahore. He appointed Kaura Mall as his Minister. Muin-ul-Mulk arrested Lakhpat Rai. A fine of rupees three million was imposed upon him. Two hundred and twenty thousand rupees were recovered from him through the sale of his property and the rest, eight hundred thousand rupees, was the price of his head. Diwan Kaura Mall paid this price and handed him (Lakhpat) over to the Sikhs, who tortured him to death in the manner he had butchered innocent Sikhs.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)