Sajjan Singh Cheema is an Indian former international basketball player, retired senior Punjab Police officer, and Aam Aadmi Party politician who represented India at the Asian Games and three FIBA Asia Championships before being honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1999. After a long career in law enforcement that took him up to the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police, he entered electoral politics, twice contesting the Sultanpur Lodhi Assembly seat for AAP, and currently serves as Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust under the Bhagwant Mann government.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Biography, Wiki
| Field | Details |
| Full Name | Sajjan Singh Cheema |
| Date of Birth | 15 January 1957 |
| Age (2026) | 69 years |
| Birthplace | Dabulian, Kapurthala district, Punjab, India |
| Hometown | Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala, Punjab |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Religion | Sikhism |
| Caste or Community | Not publicly confirmed |
| Zodiac Sign | Capricorn |
| Height | Not publicly confirmed |
| Weight | Not publicly confirmed |
| Eye Colour | Not publicly confirmed |
| Hair Colour | Not publicly confirmed |
| Profession | Politician, former Basketball Player, retired Police Officer |
| Known For | Arjuna Award winning basketball player (1999), retired SSP Punjab Police, AAP leader Sultanpur Lodhi, Chairman Kapurthala Improvement Trust |
| Father’s Name | Surjit Singh |
| Mother’s Name | Not publicly confirmed |
| Siblings | Balkar Singh (brother, basketball player); Gurmeet Singh (brother, basketball player) |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Paramjit Kaur |
| Children | Guneet Kaur (daughter) |
| School | Not publicly confirmed |
| College or University | Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar |
| Degree or Qualification | Bachelor of Arts, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 1985 |
| Political Party | Aam Aadmi Party (AAP); briefly Shiromani Akali Dal (2019 to 2020) |
| Current Position or Role | Chairman, Kapurthala Improvement Trust (since February 2025); AAP constituency in-charge, Sultanpur Lodhi |
| Net Worth (estimated) | Rs 2.44 crore (declared assets, 2022 EC affidavit) |
| Monthly Income (estimated) | Approximately Rs 96,950 (declared annual self income FY 2015 to 2016, Rs 11.63 lakh, most recent itemised figure available) |
| Twitter/X | Not publicly confirmed |
| Not publicly confirmed | |
| facebook.com/sajjansinghcheema | |
| YouTube | Not publicly confirmed |
| Official Website | Not publicly confirmed |
Sajjan Singh Cheema Election History
| Year | Constituency | Party | Result | Votes | Vote Share | Notes |
| 2017 | Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala | AAP | Lost (3rd place) | 28,017 | 25.80% | Lost to INC’s Navtej Singh Cheema |
| 2022 | Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala | AAP | Lost (2nd place) | 29,903 | 27.66% | Lost to Independent Rana Inder Pratap Singh by 11,434 votes |
Sajjan Singh Cheema Events
| Year | Event |
| 15 January 1957 | Born in Dabulian, Kapurthala district, Punjab |
| 1976 | Began international basketball career |
| 1981, 1983, 1985 | Represented India at the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship |
| 1982 | Represented India at the Asian Games |
| 1983 | Honoured with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by the Punjab state government |
| 1985 | Completed Bachelor of Arts from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar |
| 1994 | Retired from competitive basketball |
| 1999 | Honoured with the Arjuna Award, India’s second-highest sporting honour |
| Career | Served in the Punjab Police, rising to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Ludhiana |
| April 2016 | Joined the Aam Aadmi Party after leaving Punjab Police service |
| 2017 | Contested Sultanpur Lodhi Assembly seat for AAP; finished third with 28,017 votes |
| 27 April 2019 | Left AAP and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal in the presence of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal |
| December 2020 | Joined Arjuna Award winning athletes in returning awards in solidarity with the farmers’ protest against central agricultural laws |
| Late 2020 | Rejoined the Aam Aadmi Party, welcomed by Bhagwant Mann and Jarnail Singh |
| 2022 | Contested Sultanpur Lodhi Assembly seat for AAP again; finished second with 29,903 votes |
| 25 February 2025 | Appointed Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust by the Punjab government |
| August 2025 | Took part in flood relief coordination meetings in Kapurthala district |
Sajjan Singh Cheema Early Life and Family
Sajjan Singh Cheema was born on 15 January 1957 in the village of Dabulian in Kapurthala district, Punjab, into a family with a remarkable sporting pedigree. His father’s name is Surjit Singh, as recorded in his Election Commission affidavits. He comes from a family of basketball players: his brothers Balkar Singh and Gurmeet Singh, as well as his cousin Kuldeep Singh Cheema, all represented India in basketball at the international level, making the Cheema family one of Punjab’s most accomplished sporting households.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Father
His father’s name is Surjit Singh, as confirmed in his Election Commission affidavits.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Mother
His mother’s name is not publicly confirmed in any official or credible media record.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Siblings and Family Background
His brothers Balkar Singh and Gurmeet Singh both played basketball for India at the international level, as did his cousin Kuldeep Singh Cheema. His wife is Paramjit Kaur, whose brother is Balwinder Singh Sandhu, the former Indian cricketer celebrated as a member of India’s victorious 1983 Cricket World Cup squad, making Cheema’s family connections span both basketball and cricket at the national level. His daughter, Guneet Kaur, has played basketball at the national under-17 level, continuing the family’s sporting tradition into a third generation. His nephew, Amritpal Singh Cheema, is an international kabaddi player known by the title “Shurli Khiranwalia.”
Sajjan Singh Cheema Education
Sajjan Singh Cheema completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in 1985, while his basketball career was still active. His Election Commission affidavit categorises his educational qualification as Graduate.
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Sajjan Singh Cheema Career
Sajjan Singh Cheema built two full, separate careers before entering politics: nearly two decades as an elite international basketball player, followed by an equally long career in the Punjab Police.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Basketball Career
Sajjan Singh Cheema played competitive basketball for India from 1976 to 1994, representing the country at the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in 1981, 1983, and 1985, and at the 1982 Asian Games. He was honoured with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award, the Punjab state government’s highest sporting honour, in 1983, and went on to receive the Arjuna Award from the Government of India in 1999, India’s second-highest sporting honour, placing him among a select group of Indian basketball players to receive the award. He retired from competitive play in 1994.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Police Career
Following his retirement from basketball, Sajjan Singh Cheema joined the Punjab Police, where he served with distinction for over two decades. He rose to the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and additionally served as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) in Ludhiana. During his service, he gained experience with the state’s anti-riot police units. He served in the Punjab Police until 2016, when he resigned to enter politics. Reflecting his standing within the force and the sporting community, he is remembered for personally intervening to help promote fellow Punjab boxer Kaur Singh, an Asian Games medallist, from sepoy to Assistant Sub-Inspector during a period of financial hardship for Kaur Singh.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Political Journey and Elections
Sajjan Singh Cheema joined the Aam Aadmi Party in April 2016, shortly after resigning from the Punjab Police, motivated, in his own stated words, by a desire to improve education and sport in India and to help make the country drug free, a priority shaped directly by his decades of frontline policing experience. He was fielded as AAP’s candidate for the Sultanpur Lodhi Assembly constituency in the 2017 Punjab election, finishing third with 28,017 votes, a 25.80% vote share, behind Congress’s Navtej Singh Cheema, who won with 41,843 votes, and SAD’s Upinderjit Kaur, who polled 33,681 votes.
In a significant shift, Sajjan Singh Cheema left AAP and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal on 27 April 2019, at a ceremony in Sultanpur Lodhi presided over by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, with senior leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Bibi Jagir Kaur also present. Notably, he joined the party in the presence of Upinderjit Kaur, his own former 2017 electoral opponent. The move was widely covered as a setback for AAP’s Kapurthala unit, coming just days after fellow 2017 AAP candidate Sukhpal Singh Khaira had also resigned from the Vidhan Sabha to pursue a separate political path.
His time with SAD was brief. By late 2020, amid the farmers’ protest against central agricultural laws, Sajjan Singh Cheema joined a group of Arjuna Award winning former athletes, including wrestler Kartar Singh and hockey player Rajbir Kaur, in publicly announcing they would return their awards in solidarity with protesting farmers, travelling toward Delhi to place the awards outside Rashtrapati Bhavan. Around the same period, he rejoined the Aam Aadmi Party, welcomed back by Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann and state affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh, citing renewed confidence in the “pro-people” policies of the Kejriwal-led AAP government.
Sajjan Singh Cheema contested the Sultanpur Lodhi seat for AAP a second time in the 2022 Punjab election, in a campaign he described as “a battle between muscle and means on one hand and honesty on the other.” He improved on his 2017 result, polling 29,903 votes, a 27.66% vote share, and finishing second, but the seat was won by Independent candidate Rana Inder Pratap Singh, who had been denied a Congress ticket and ran independently, securing 41,337 votes, a margin of 11,434 over Cheema. Despite this second defeat, Sajjan Singh Cheema remained an active AAP figure in Kapurthala district, and on 25 February 2025, the Punjab government appointed him Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust, one of 20 district improvement trust chairperson appointments made by the Bhagwant Mann administration that month. In this capacity, he has since taken part in district administrative functions including 2025 flood relief coordination meetings in Kapurthala.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Religion and Community
What is Sajjan Singh Cheema Religion
Sajjan Singh Cheema follows the Sikh faith.
What is Sajjan Singh Cheema Caste or Community
His specific caste or community is not publicly confirmed in any official record or credible media source.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Personal Life and Relationships
Is Sajjan Singh Cheema Married
Yes, Sajjan Singh Cheema is married.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Wife
His wife is Paramjit Kaur, who is the sister of former Indian cricketer Balwinder Singh Sandhu, a member of India’s 1983 Cricket World Cup winning team. Her profession is listed as “Housewife” in his Election Commission affidavits.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Children
His daughter, Guneet Kaur, has played basketball at the national under-17 level, continuing the family’s sporting legacy.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Height, Weight and Physical Appearance
Sajjan Singh Cheema’s height, weight, eye colour, and hair colour are not publicly confirmed in any official record or verified media source, though as a former elite international basketball player he is widely understood to have an exceptionally tall, athletic build typical of the sport.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Net Worth and Earnings
Sajjan Singh Cheema declared total assets of Rs 2,43,86,388 (approximately Rs 2.44 crore) in his 2022 Election Commission affidavit, up from approximately Rs 1.66 crore declared in his 2017 affidavit. His 2017 immovable assets of Rs 1.45 crore included agricultural land in village Dabulian, a non agricultural plot in village Ladewali, Jalandhar district, and a residential property on Punjab Avenue in Jalandhar valued at Rs 1.20 crore. His 2017 movable assets of Rs 20.71 lakh included two vehicles, a modified Maruti car and a Skoda Rapid, together worth Rs 10.50 lakh, and gold jewellery worth Rs 7.34 lakh across himself and his spouse. He declared liabilities of Rs 5.50 lakh in 2017, tied to a car loan from HDFC Bank under his spouse’s name.
| Source | Estimated Amount |
| Total declared assets, 2017 affidavit | Rs 1,65,70,440 |
| Total declared assets, 2022 affidavit | Rs 2,43,86,388 |
| Immovable assets (2017) | Rs 1,45,10,000 |
| Residential property, Jalandhar (2017) | Rs 1,20,00,000 |
| Non agricultural land, Ladewali (2017) | Rs 14,50,000 |
| Agricultural land, Dabulian, inherited (2017) | Rs 10,60,000 |
| Vehicles, self and spouse (2017) | Rs 10,50,000 |
| Declared self income (FY 2015 to 2016 ITR) | Rs 11,63,400 |
| Declared liabilities (2017) | Rs 5,50,000 |
| Declared criminal cases, 2022 affidavit | 2 |
Sajjan Singh Cheema Social Media
| Platform | Handle | Followers | Notes |
| facebook.com/sajjansinghcheema | Not publicly confirmed | Official page under his political and sporting identity | |
| Twitter/X | Not publicly confirmed | Not publicly confirmed | No verified account identified |
| Not publicly confirmed | Not publicly confirmed | No verified account identified | |
| YouTube | Not publicly confirmed | Not publicly confirmed | No verified account identified |
Sajjan Singh Cheema maintains an official Facebook page, though specific follower numbers and detailed activity metrics are not independently confirmed in available records.
Sajjan Singh Cheema Controversies
Sajjan Singh Cheema’s 2022 Election Commission affidavit records two declared criminal cases, an increase from zero declared cases in his 2017 filing. Specific details of the nature, charges, and status of these two cases were not fully accessible in the source material reviewed for this profile. No conviction has been confirmed in available records, and readers seeking complete details are encouraged to consult the original 2022 MyNeta affidavit directly.
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Lesser Known Facts About Sajjan Singh Cheema
- He is widely regarded as the first Indian basketball international to make the transition into electoral politics, a distinction noted by basketball commentators covering his 2017 candidacy.
- His entire immediate and extended family has an extraordinary sporting pedigree: two brothers and a cousin who played basketball for India, a wife whose brother won the 1983 Cricket World Cup with India, a daughter who played national level basketball, and a nephew who is an international kabaddi player.
- He personally intervened to help promote fellow Punjab sportsperson and Asian Games boxing medallist Kaur Singh from constable to Assistant Sub-Inspector within the Punjab Police during a period when Kaur Singh faced financial hardship.
- He switched political parties twice within a four year span, leaving AAP for the SAD in April 2019 and then returning to AAP by late 2020, a relatively unusual back and forth trajectory among Punjab’s prominent sportsperson-politicians.
- He joined fellow Arjuna Award winning athletes in publicly announcing they would return their awards to the Government of India in solidarity with the 2020 to 2021 farmers’ protest, a symbolic act of protest by some of Punjab’s most decorated sportspeople.
- Despite contesting the Sultanpur Lodhi seat twice and losing both times, he was rewarded with a significant administrative appointment in 2025, becoming Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust under the Bhagwant Mann government.
- He served as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) in Ludhiana during his police career, a role distinct from his core SSP rank postings.
Sajjan Singh Cheema FAQ
Who is Sajjan Singh Cheema?
Sajjan Singh Cheema is an Indian former international basketball player, retired Punjab Police officer, and politician. He represented India in basketball at the Asian Games and FIBA Asia Championships, won the Arjuna Award in 1999, and has twice contested the Sultanpur Lodhi Assembly seat for the Aam Aadmi Party. He currently serves as Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust.
How old is Sajjan Singh Cheema?
He was born on 15 January 1957, making him 69 years old as of 2026.
What is Sajjan Singh Cheema’s net worth?
His declared total assets per the 2022 Election Commission affidavit are Rs 2,43,86,388 (approximately Rs 2.44 crore).
Is Sajjan Singh Cheema married?
Yes. His wife is Paramjit Kaur, sister of former Indian cricketer Balwinder Singh Sandhu, a member of India’s 1983 World Cup winning cricket team.
What is Sajjan Singh Cheema’s religion?
He follows the Sikh faith.
Who is Sajjan Singh Cheema’s father?
His father’s name is Surjit Singh, as confirmed in his Election Commission affidavits.
What is Sajjan Singh Cheema known for?
He is known for representing India in international basketball, winning the Arjuna Award in 1999, his long career as a senior Punjab Police officer, his repeated candidacy for the Aam Aadmi Party in Sultanpur Lodhi, and his current role as Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust.
What is Sajjan Singh Cheema’s current role?
He has served as Chairman of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust since 25 February 2025, an appointment made by the Punjab government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
What was the 2022 Sultanpur Lodhi election result?
Independent candidate Rana Inder Pratap Singh won the seat with 41,337 votes. Sajjan Singh Cheema of AAP finished second with 29,903 votes (27.66%), a margin of 11,434 votes.
Did Sajjan Singh Cheema ever leave the Aam Aadmi Party?
Yes. He left AAP to join the Shiromani Akali Dal in April 2019, before rejoining AAP by late 2020 ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly election.
Sources
MyNeta, Punjab 2017 Affidavit, Sajjan Singh Cheema,
https://myneta.info/punjab2017/candidate.php?candidate_id=112
Hoopistani, Indian basketball legend Sajjan Singh Cheema to run for AAP in Punjab elections,
http://hoopistani.blogspot.com/2017/01/indian-basketball-legend-sajjan-singh.html
The Tribune, AAP leader joins Akali Dal,
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/aap-leader-joins-akali-dal/764665.html
Deccan Herald, Arjuna awardee Sajjan Singh Cheema rejoins AAP,
https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/story/india%2Farjuna-awardee-sajjan-singh-cheema-rejoins-aap-994930.html
The Print, Arjuna awardees Kartar Singh, Sajjan Cheema and others to return awards in support of farmers,
https://theprint.in/india/arjuna-awardees-kartar-singh-sajjan-cheema-others-to-return-awards-in-support-of-farmers/555267/
The Tribune, Sultanpur Lodhi braces for moment of truth,
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/sultanpur-lodhi-braces-for-moment-of-truth-376530
YES Punjab, 20 Districts Get New Improvement Trust Chairpersons,
https://yespunjab.com/20-districts-get-new-improvement-trust-chairpersons/
The Tribune, Govt names heads of improvement trusts in 20 dists,
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/govt-names-heads-of-improvement-trusts-in-20-dists/
The Tribune, Punjab govt orders special girdawari for flood-damaged crops amid rising river waters,
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/punjab-govt-orders-special-girdawari-for-flood-damaged-crops-amid-rising-river-waters/
The Tribune, Kaur Singh packed a punch,
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/musings/kaur-singh-packed-a-punch-503498/
SikhRoleModels.org, Sajjan Singh Cheema,
http://www.sikhrolemodels.org/sports-and-adventures/sajjan-singh-cheema/