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2015 tiffin blast: Four, including ex-driver of rival Namdhari faction head, to face trial from Oct 19
With the court of CBI special judge, Mohali, Karunesh Kumar, framing charges against four accused in 2015-Jalandhar tiffin-blast that aimed to kill Bhaini Sahib-based
With the court of CBI special judge, Mohali, Karunesh Kumar, framing charges against four accused in 2015-Jalandhar tiffin-blast that aimed to kill Bhaini Sahib-based sect head, Satguru Uday Singh, trial in the case will begin on October 19.
The accused are Jagmohan Singh, alias Manga of Gadaipur; Hardeep Singh of Bholath; Harbhej Singh of Sirsa and Palvinder Singh, alias Dimple of Delhi. Palvinder is the former driver of Thakur Dalip Singh, the head of the rival faction of the Namdharis; he was arrested from Bangkok and deported to India on October 11, 2018.
They would face trial under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC; the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. Two other accused, Mehenga Singh of Sirsa, and Ratan Singh have already been declared proclaimed offenders.
Succession row behind attacks: CBI challan
In the challan filed in January this year, the CBI had said that Palvinder had confessed to hiding in Thailand and was not joining investigation at the instance of Thakur Dalip.
CBI investigation had pointed out that the accused, in November-December, 2015 entered into a criminal conspiracy to eliminate Uday Singh, the head of the Namdhari sect, and Jagtar Singh, son-in-law of sect matriarch Mata Chand Kaur, in a blast at Hariballabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar to be held on December 25, 2015.
The challan also mentioned the succession row. It said, “After their previous guru, Satguru Jagjit Singh, expired in 2012, Mata Chand Kaur had supported Uday Singh, nephew of Jagjit Singh, to be the successor. This led to a succession row between Uday Singh and elder brother Thakur Dalip Singh. Therefore, in the instant case role of Thakur Dalip is being suspected and all accused are Namdharis, and are followers of Dalip Singh.”
Punjab police had filed a challan in March 2016. Later, the then SAD-BJP government handed over investigation to the CBI in September 2016, after the murder of Mata Chand Kaur, wife of former Namdhari sect head late Satguru Jagjit Singh.
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Chand Kaur murder: Accused
Palvinder sent to judicial custody
Mohali CBI special magistrate, GS Sekhon, sent Palvinder Singh alias Dimple, arrested in the high-profile murder of Namdhari sect matriarch Mata Chand Kaur, to judicial custody on Thursday. Two unidentified assailants had shot dead Kaur, 88, wife of former sect head late Satguru Jagjit Singh, at the sect’s headquarters in Bhaini Sahib near Ludhiana on April 4, 2016.
Palvinder, the ex-driver of Thakur Dalip Singh, the head of the Sirsa-based rival faction of the Namdharis, was produced before court on Thursday after remand. The CBI had arrested him on September 26 on the ‘suspicion’ of his involvement in the conspiracy of murder after he was brought from jail in Patiala on production warrants. The CBI has failed to make any recovery or get any information from the accused regarding the murder, but it filed an application, seeking polygraph test on Palvinder, who has refused to undergo the test. He also recorded his denial statement in the court of special CBI judge, GS Sekhon in Mohali.
“The CBI failed to make any recovery or connect Palvinder with the murder. It is dragging him only to defame Thakur Dalip Singh, the head of the Sirsa-based rival faction of the Namdharis,” defence counsel Ranjodh Singh Sarao said.
