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Bargari sacrilege probe: No faith in CBI, says Capt
Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday reiterated that he had no faith in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter of the Bargari sacrilege
Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday reiterated that he had no faith in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter of the Bargari sacrilege case probe.
Reacting to the CBI’s move to transfer the probe to a special investigation team (SIT), Amarinder said even as the state government formally contested the decision in the court, the agency, clearly acting under pressure from the central government at the behest of the Badals, was quite obviously trying to stop the probe from going forward. The decision to hand over the case to a new SIT three months after it had filed a closure report in court was a clear ploy to delay the probe and stop the state government from taking over, he alleged in a written statement.
The CM said his government would continue to oppose the CBI in the court and also fight at all levels for getting the case back to the state. “We will not let anyone get away with cheating the people of Punjab out of their due justice,” he said.
The CM also came down heavily on the Akali leadership, particularly Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, saying she should either persuade the Centre to send the case back to the state for a fair probe or should resign.
Amarinder said the CBI had exposed itself to be totally partisan and unfair in the entire affair. Despite repeated pleas and efforts from the state government in the wake of the closure report, the central agency has failed to return the case files to Punjab Police. The failure is clearly deliberate and mischievous, so that the agency can buy time to divert the case to the new SIT, for its eventual burial,” he added.
CBI PROBE ‘CONTEMPT’ OF PUNJAB ASSEMBLY: RANDHAWA
Punjab cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa termed the CBI’s decision to constitute a SIT to further probe the Bargari sacrilege case as “contempt” of the state assembly.
Randhawa said the state assembly had unanimously resolved to withdraw the probe from the central agency. The resolution was adopted after a seven-hour debate on Justice Ranjit singh Commission report that had recommended further probe,” he said in a statement.
The minister described the CBI as the most convenient tool in the hands of the Narendra Modi government to give clean chit to its own people and harass the adversaries.
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AAP slams state, central govts
Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday hit out at the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for the CBI move to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) for probing the 2015 desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari.
“The move amounts to denigration of the House (Punjab assembly),” leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Baljinder Kaur, Kulwant Singh Pandori, Jai Krishan Singh Rori, Manjit Singh Bilaspur (all MLAs) and former MP said in a statement.
They accused both the state and the central governments of protecting the Badals, raising questions of propriety over the investigating agencies changing hands so frequently.
