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Haryana: Sufi singer Birender declares himself next head of Sirsa’s Dera Jagmalwali
Dera Jagmalwali head Bahadur Chand Vakil joined Dera Jagmalwali in 1968 and he was appointed its head on August 9, 1998
After a funeral ceremony for Dera Jagmalwali head Bahadur Chand Vakil was held at the ashram in Sirsa on Friday, sufi singer Birender Singh declared himself as the next head of the dera. However, Vakil’s nephew Amar Singh refused to accept the sufi singer as the next head.
Vakil joined Dera Jagmalwali in 1968 and he was appointed its head on August 9, 1998. In a video, Dera Jagmalwali sewak Shamsher Lehri said he was taking care of Vakil for a long time and his body was brought to the dera on Thursday.
“Vakil had declared Birender the next dera chief one and a half-year ago. When Birender and others brought Vakil’s body, and the followers were paying tributes to him, the ceremony to declare Birender as the next dera head was underway and suddenly Amar and his aides attacked us. The allegation of firing is false,” he added.
ADGP M Ravi Kiran, Dabwali SP Deepti Garg, Sirsa SP Vikrant Bhushan, Fatehabad SP Astha Modi and Hansi SP Maqsood Ahmed were at the dera during the ceremony. The security was tightened to avoid any untoward incident. No FIR was registered till filing the copy after two groups raised allegations of violence on Thursday.
However, the other group, led by Amar, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death.
“A group of persons, including Birender, Balkaur Singh, Lahri, Nand Lal Grover and others, were in a hurry to perform his burial and his death is suspicious. Their main intention is to take possession of the dera and they have nothing to do with followers’ faith. We have complained about them and the police are yet to register an FIR,” the former dera chief’s nephew said.
Chand Mahatma, who heads Khushpur Dham Dera at Goriwala village, alleged that Vakil was not provided adequate medical care. He demanded a CBI probe to ascertain the exact reason and timing of the death, adding that the administration should take control over the dera.
