On the night of August 28, 1990 Sarabjit was arrested near his village on the Indo-Pakistani border near Kasur by Pakistani border guards. Sarabjit claimed that he was a poor farmer who was drunk and had strayed off the border. The security forces had arrested him in an inebriated state, as a case of mistaken identity.[7]
He was initially apprehended for illegally crossing the India-Pakistani border. But after eight days, Pakistani police implicated him in the terrorist bombings.[8] The Pakistani authorities alleged he was Manjit Singh, responsible for the string of 4 blasts in Faislabad and Lahore in 1990 in which 14 people were killed, three months prior to Sarabjit's arrest.[9][1] It was alleged that he was arrested while returning back into India after carrying out the bombings.[10] He was accused of working for Indian intelligence and was viewed as a terrorist in Pakistan.[11] He was convicted of spying and carrying the bomb blasts and was handed death penalty.[7]