E-Paper
Amritsar: Villagers detain ‘sacrilege’ accused in Ajnala
The situation at Bhangupur village falling under the Ajnala sub-division of Amritsar district turned tense on Wednesday after a person allegedly committed sacrilege in the village gurdwara.
The situation at Bhangupur village falling under the Ajnala sub-division turned tense on Wednesday after a person allegedly committed sacrilege in the village gurdwara.
The accused, who appears to be in his 20s, was caught by the village people and has been kept in a room of the gurdwara.
A large number of Sikh activists who reached the village soon after the incident are not allowing the local police to arrest the accused. They are demanding that the accused should be interrogated in public.
The incident took place at 2 pm when Gurdwara Nanaksar’s granthi Hardial Singh was not present there. According to the police, the accused, who appears to be mentally unsound, was found stealing the “Rumala Sahib” and “Chaur Sahib”. The accused was thrashed and detained in a room of the gurdwara sahib.
As soon as the police got the information about the incident, the superintendent of police (SP -investigation) Manoj Kumar and deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Attari, Ravinderpal Singh, along with heavy police force reached the spot. However, the police team was not allowed by the people gathered to arrest the accused, demanding his questioning in public.
“The accused has not been telling his identification. He appears mentally unfit. Those who caught the accused have told us that he consumed some pills, apparently drugs, immediately after being caught. The Sikh activists have demanded his interrogation in their presence, but we have a system and we can’t interrogate an accused in public. We are yet to file a case in this regard, as the Sikh activists have repeatedly been demanding his questioning before giving their statements,” said SP Manoj Kumar, adding that their teams were keeping a strict watch on the spot and the situation was under control.
A police official said the accused appears to be from Uttar Pradesh (UP) or Bihar and they haven’t found any document from which he could be identified from his possession. The DSP said it was a case of sacrilege and they will take further action as per the law.
The SP said, “We have questioned the accused, but he is not giving any satisfactory replies. We are also in talks with Sikh activists and the incident would be investigated thoroughly.”
