2015 BIR THEFT: Arrested dera followers taken to sacrilege spot

DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra said all the accused were taken to the spots in a chronological order to recreate occurrence of the crime

Punjab Police’s special investigation team (SIT), led by Jalandhar range deputy inspector general (DIG) Ranbir Singh Khatra probing a sacrilege case, on Sunday took the seven Dera Sacha Sauda followers, who were arrested on Saturday, to Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village from where a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen on June 1, 2015.

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Later, they were taken to Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s branch at Kotkapura and Sikhan Wala village.

DIG Khatra said all the accused were taken to the spots in a chronological order to recreate occurrence of the crime. “The SIT has also identified a car used to transfer the stolen copy of Guru Granth Sahib by dera followers,” he said.

“The bir of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, than it was taken to dera’s naam charcha ghar at Kotkapura and then to Sikhan Wala village,” said an SIT official.

The SIT on Saturday arrested seven dera followers in Faridkot district in a case registered at the Bajakhana police station in the district.

However, Faridkot court termed the arrest of two of the accused, Sukhjinder Singh, alias Sunny, of Kotkapura and Shakti Singh of Daggu Romana village, as “illegal” since both were already released on bail. Both accused Shakti and Sunny on Sunday appeared before the SIT and joined the investigation.

Meanwhile, Ram Singh, the head of the political wing of Dera Sacha Sauda, said: “We strongly believe that premis would never do such thing. The matter is being politicised and the premis are been harassed.”