A day after Faridkot police arrested Pardeep Kaler, one of the three absconding Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda national committee members, who are key conspirators in the five sacrilege cases of 2015, a local court on Saturday granted his two-day police remand in connection with three cases registered in Faridkot.
Kaler, 42, was arrested by a team of crime investigation agency (CIA) of Faridkot police from Gurugram, Haryana, on Friday. Faridkot police secured his transit remand from a local court in Haryana and brought him to Faridkot, where he was presented before the court of judicial magistrate Ajaypal Singh after medical examination.
Faridkot range inspector general of police (IGP) Gursharan Singh Sandhu said the special investigation team (SIT), led by ADGP Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, had filed a chargesheet against eight accused, while the three absconding accused were declared POs. “Faridkot police got a tip-off regarding Kaler and separate teams were sent to different places to trace him,” he said.
Sandhu said Kaler was continuously moving since his appearance in Ayodhya. But police remained hot on his trail and nabbed him from Gurugram with the help of some human inputs.
“He is a conspirator in three sacrilege cases registered at Faridkot. He is a worker of Dera Sacha Sauda’s youth wing. Three separate FIRs were registered against Kaler after the court declared him PO in the three sacrilege cases. The court has granted two-day remand in connection with those cases. Kaler was also declared PO in two other sacrilege cases in Moga and Bathinda districts. He will be arrested in these cases as well,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“He is a conspirator in three sacrilege cases registered at Faridkot. He is a worker of Dera Sacha Sauda’s youth wing. Three separate FIRs were registered against Kaler after the court declared him PO in the three sacrilege cases. The court has granted two-day remand in connection with those cases. Kaler was also declared PO in two other sacrilege cases in Moga and Bathinda districts. He will be arrested in these cases as well,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}ADGP Parmar, who heads the Punjab Police SIT, probing the three interlinked sacrilege cases of Faridkot, said “We will take his custody after local police complete their procedure in the PO cases.”
A team of Faridkot police was rushed to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh earlier this week after Kaler, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, was purportedly seen serving “langar” to devotees during the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in pictures on social media.
In May 2021, Faridkot court had declared three national committee members of dera Pardeep Kaler, Sandeep Bareta and Harsh Dhuri as POs in three interlinked sacrilege cases, including Bargari in which dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been named as the main conspirator.
The trio was also named as accused in the Malke (Moga) and Gurusar (Bathinda) cases. Torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found at Gurusar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October 2015 and Malke village in Moga district in November 2015.
Last year, three dera followers were convicted and sentenced for three years imprisonment in the Malke sacrilege case.