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Goldy Brar threat: Court declares slain dera follower’s wife ‘vulnerable witness’
Simran, wife of slain dera follower Pardeep Singh Kataria, will now record statement via video conference
After fugitive gangster Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar gave life threats to the slain Dera Sacha Sauda follower’s wife, who is also a prime eyewitness to her husband’s murder case, the Faridkot court has declared her a “vulnerable witness”.
On November 10, 2022, Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Singh Kataria, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was shot dead by six motorcycle-borne assailants in his shop at Kotkapura in Faridkot district. As per police sources, Brar has threatened to kill Kataria’s wife and their children if she recorded a statement in the court.
The prosecution moved an application in the court for recording the statement of Pardeep’s wife Simran through a video conferencing facility following the court summons on Tuesday. As per the details submitted to the court, Brar gave a life threat to Simran through a WhatsApp call on August 3.
The court of additional sessions judge Ram Kumar Singla observed: “On February 8, main accused Satinderjit Singh alias Goldy Brar, who is residing abroad, made a threatening call to complainant Simran through WhatsApp call to kill her and her children on the basis of which FIR has already been registered. Later on June 28, Goldy Brar also had made a threatening call to the complainant and on August 3,”
“On earlier threatening calls to her, the matter was brought to the prosecution agency whereby requisite securities has already been provided to her under the Protection of Witness Scheme. The entire episode of crime and arising to the present trial reflects that the courts are also feels vulnerable to record evidence of such like trial. Therefore it demands to record evidence of said witness as a vulnerable witness and that too through video conferencing,” Singla ordered.
However, Simran’s statement was not recorded on Tuesday due to some technical reasons.
Pardeep was shot dead inside his shop at Hari Nau in Kotkapura, while his gunman was injured. Police had identified all six assailants, which include four from the Haryana module and two of the Punjab module shooters. The modules were being handled independently by one of the most wanted gangsters in India and Canada Goldy Brar, an accomplice of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
Pardeep was an accused in two cases of sacrilege registered after a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village on June 1, 2015, and after torn pages of a ‘bir’ were found scattered near Bargari gurdwara on October 12, 2015. He was granted bail in the sacrilege cases on August 3, 2021. The trial in the Bargari sacrilege cases is pending in a Chandigarh court as the Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed the proceedings.
Goldy Brar had taken responsibility for the murder through social media. On April 13, 2023, Faridkot police filed a chargesheet against 14 accused, including six shooters Manpreet Singh Manni, Bhupinder Singh Goldy, Jitender Jeetu, Ramjan Khan alias Raj Hooda, and two juveniles in the court.
On November 28 last year, the court of additional sessions judge Rajiv Kalra framed charges against the accused. The Juvenile Justice Board, Faridkot, is simultaneously hearing the case against the juvenile accused.
