3 absconding Dera Sacha Sauda national committee members key link in 2015 sacrilege: SIT

In 2018, DIG Khatra-led SIT had arrested more than 20 dera followers, including Mohinder Pal Bittu who was killed in Nabha jail in 2019, in connection with sacrilege and rioting in Punjab in 2015

The three absconding members of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s national committee are the key link in Punjab’s three sacrilege incidents that sparked off state-wide protests in 2015, says the police’s special investigation team (SIT) led by Jalandhar range deputy inspector general (DIG) Ranbir Singh Khatra.

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The team probing the sacrilege cases claims to have found that the instructions to execute sacrilege at Bargari, Moga and Gurusar were given by dera’s national committee members Sandeep Bareta, a resident of Bareta in Mansa district, Pardeep Kler of Panipat in Haryana and Harsh Dhuri of Dhuri in Sangrur district, to the district dera committee members.

The SIT has named Breta, Kler and Dhuri as accused in a 2015 case relating to the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara at Bargari village in Faridkot. The trio was also named as accused in the Malke and Gurusar cases.

Torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found at Malke village in Moga district in November 2015 and Gurusar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October 2015.

In 2018, the Khatra-led SIT had arrested more than 20 dera followers, including Mohinder Pal Bittu who was killed in the Nabha jail in 2019, in connection with the sacrilege incidents and rioting in Punjab in 2015. But the police have failed to nab the trio even after two years.

DIG Khatra said Bareta, Kler, and Dhuri were the main link between the Sirsa dera and district committees in the sacrilege incidents. “In the Bargari sacrilege case, the instructions to steal a bir came through the three. The trio had met Bittu and instructed him for the theft and sacrilege. Similarly, in Moga sacrilege case, they gave instructions to dera state committee member Pirthi Singh after which sacrilege was done by a dera follower at Malke village,” he said.

“In the Gurusar case, the torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib found in October 2015 were delivered to a dera state committee member, Jatindervir alias Jimmy, from the Sirsa dera directly. Deepak, a Malout resident, picked these pages from the dera headquarters and hand it over to Jimmy near the Bathinda thermal plant. There could be another case of sacrilege as we are yet to identify from where the dera had got those pages. The trio’s link was revealed during the interrogation of the accused dera followers, including Bittu, Pirthi and Jimmy,” he added.

An SIT official said the arrest of the trio could lead SIT to chance upon the names of more people involved in sacrileges. “We recently conducted raids to nab them, but got no clue. I am afraid they might have left the country,” he added.

The Moga and Gurusar sacrilege cases are at different stages in the courts. The charges were framed against five dera followers, including Pirthi, in the Moga case last year.

In the Gurusar case, the court has framed charges against six dera followers, including Jimmy, and evidence has started. Bretta, Kler and Dhuri have been declared proclaimed offenders (POs) in these cases.

Now, the SIT has sought arrest warrant of the absconding trio in the bir theft case and the matter is listed for hearing on Wednesday.