E-Paper
Missing ‘saroops’: SIT visits SGPC office in Chandigarh but fails to get record
SIT members were told that the SGPC president will hand over the record on Thursday, Sukhminder Singh, SGPC secretary (education) said
Punjab Police’s special investigation team (SIT) probing the disappearance of 328 sacred ‘saroops’ of the Guru Granth Sahib, on Wednesday did not receive the SGPC records it had sought.
The SIT team visited the SGPC sub-office in Chandigarh to collect the documents, but officials said SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami would hand over the records personally on Thursday. “The SGPC gave us January 28 and 29 to collect records, but we had to return empty-handed,” said a SIT official. SIT member Gurbans Singh Bains added that the team would again visit the office on Thursday.
SGPC secretary (education) Sukhminder Singh clarified that the SIT had visited without prior intimation and would have to wait for the SGPC president to be present to hand over the documents.
Meanwhile, complainant and former Hazoori Ragi Baldev Singh Wadala, along with Sikh leader Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal, accused the SGPC and Punjab government of collusive inaction, comparing the delay to the Bargari incident. They warned of community unrest if the matter was not addressed.
The case, first exposed by the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO) in 2020, has sparked tensions between the AAP-led state government and the SGPC. The FIR, registered in Amritsar on December 7, 2025, charges 16 individuals, including former SGPC officials, under Sections 295, 295-A, 409, 465, and 120-B of the IPC for criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy, and hurting religious sentiments.
