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2015 Bargari sacrilege: Arrest warrants against 3 dera men extended after SIT fails to nab them
On July 23, the court of Faridkot judicial magistrate issued arrest warrants against three Haryana residents -- Sandeep Bareta, Pardeep Kler and Harsh Dhuri
A Faridkot court on Friday extended non-bailable arrest warrants against three members of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s national committee in connection with 2015 Bargari sacrilege till August 9 as the special investigation team (SIT) failed to nab them.
On July 23, the court of Faridkot judicial magistrate issued arrest warrants against three Haryana residents -- Sandeep Bareta, Pardeep Kler and Harsh Dhuri -- returnable by July 30 in two sacrilege cases wherein torn pages of a “bir” (copy of Guru Granth Sahib) were found scattered in Bargari and three derogatory posters pasted near gurdwaras at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages.
The SIT told the court that it needed time to conduct raids at more places to nab the accused. Police teams have already raided various locations in Punjab and Haryana, the court was told.
Naming the three as conspirators in the Bargari sacrilege and derogatory posters cases, the SIT had filed challan in the court earlier this month. The SIT is likely to file a plea to start proceeding to declare them proclaimed offenders (PO) if it fails to nab them.
The three have already been declared POs in three other sacrilege cases as police have failed to nab them since 2018 when they were first named as accused in desecration incidents in Moga and Bathinda districts in 2015.
The SIT said two derogatory posters were pasted near the Bargari gurdwara on the intervening night of September 24 and 25, 2015, by dera followers on their directions. “A bir was also stolen on their directions from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara on June 1, 2015, and its pages were scattered at Bargari on October 12, 2015,” the SIT said.
Meanwhile, the hearing on the bail applications of two dera followers --- Nishan Singh and Pardeep Kumar --- in the Bargari sacrilege case was adjourned to August 4.
