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Punjab: Chandigarh court acquits nine Sirsa dera followers in 2011 Moga rioting case
Two of the accused, Mohinder Pal alias Bittu and Pardeep Singh, were killed during the course of the proceedings
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A court acquitted nine followers of Dera Sacha Sauda in a 2011 Moga rioting and arson case in which a mob was accused of setting a Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) bus on fire and disrupting road and railway traffic.
The trial was transferred from Moga to Chandigarh on the directions of the Supreme Court. The case involved 11 dera followers, nine of whom were also accused in the 2015 sacrilege cases in Bargari and other parts of Faridkot district. Two of the accused, Mohinder Pal alias Bittu and Pardeep Singh, were killed during the course of the proceedings.
Dera Sacha Sauda, headquartered in Sirsa, Haryana, is headed by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
The case dates back to 2011, when a clash broke out between Dera followers and members of the Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj, a radical Sikh organisation, in Dhale Ke village of Moga. As the situation spiralled out of control, Dera followers allegedly set a bus on fire and blocked road and railway traffic, demanding action against the Sikhs involved in the clash.
According to the prosecution, around 300 dera followers had gathered at Naam Charcha Ghar on the Kotkapura bypass in Moga on March 7, 2011. The mob allegedly damaged vehicles, set a PRTC bus belonging to the Barnala depot on fire and obstructed public servants from performing their duties.
The police initially filed an untraced report in the case. In 2018, a special investigation team (SIT) probing the sacrilege incidents at Malke in Moga and Gurusar Bhagta in Bathinda arrested several dera followers, including Bittu, in connection with the 2011 arson and rioting case. Following their arrests, investigators established their alleged links to the interconnected sacrilege incidents reported in Faridkot district in 2015.
Bittu, who was associated with the dera’s 45-member committee in Sirsa, was allegedly killed inside jail. Pardeep Singh was shot dead in broad daylight over his alleged involvement in the 2015 sacrilege cases.
The accused faced charges under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rioting, unlawful assembly, causing hurt, mischief by fire and criminal conspiracy. Charges were also framed under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and the Arms Act.
The defence argued that the accused had been falsely implicated and that several of them were already in police custody before their arrests were formally recorded. The lawyers also questioned the prosecution’s case, alleging that documents and witnesses had been used to implicate the accused.
After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted all nine accused who faced trial in the case.
