Faridkot : Ahead of the February 20 assembly elections, the Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT), probing the 2015 politically-sensitive sacrilege incidents, on Thursday filed a supplementary chargesheet against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, three absconding dera national committee members and seven dera followers in connection with the bir (copy of Guru Granth Sahib) theft case.
A 400-page chargesheet was filed in the court of judicial magistrate Tarjani against 11 persons, including Ram Rahim, three national committee members of dera --- Sandeep Bretta, Pardeep Kler and Harsh Dhuri --- and seven dera followers. Ram Rahim has been nominated as the main conspirator in the case.
The move comes a month after Ram Rahim filed a plea in the Punjab and Haryana high court demanding that the CBI be asked to continue with the probe into the sacrilege FIRs of 2015. After questioning Ram Rahim at Sunaria jail in connection with Bargari sacrilege on two occasions in November and December, the SIT was pushing for his custodial interrogation but the court asked the probe team to quiz him in the jail citing the law and order situation.
The SIT led by inspector general of police (IGP) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar found that the conspiracy of desecration of Sikh scriptures was hatched at the administrative block of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and that the followers never acted without the permission of sect head Ram Rahim.
{{/usCountry}}The SIT led by inspector general of police (IGP) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar found that the conspiracy of desecration of Sikh scriptures was hatched at the administrative block of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and that the followers never acted without the permission of sect head Ram Rahim.
{{/usCountry}}The “bir” was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara on June 1, 2015. An FIR was registered the next day at the Bajakhana police station. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the “bir” were found scattered in front of a gurdwara in the adjoining Bargari village, resulting in an outrage across the state and the killing of two Sikh protesters in firing.
The Akali-BJP government, led by Parkash Singh Badal, had handed over the probe into the three sacrilege incidents to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on October 26, 2015. In July 2019, the CBI filed a closure report, but withdrew it later to reinvestigate the matter.
The Captain Amarinder Singh government challenged the CBI move of reinvestigation and handed over the probe to the SIT led by DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra on April 22, 2019. In July last year, the SIT named jailed dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim and national committee members Bretta, Kler and Dhuri, as accused in the “bir” theft case. The probe team also filed a chargesheet against seven dera men in the case.
In January last year, the Punjab and Haryana high court asked the state government to replace the head of the SIT probing sacrilege cases, after which IG Parmar was appointed as the new chief. The HC had also directed CBI to handover all the case files and asked the SIT to file a supplementary chargesheet in “bir” theft case after taking into account the evidence filed by the CBI. Following this, a fresh chargesheet was filed against seven dera followers.