Rape, murder allegations against Dhadrianwale: HC disposes of plea, asks magistrate to monitor probe
The FIR was registered on December 7, after the high court sought an affidavit from the state’s director general of police (DGP) following a petition from the brother of the woman in November.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday directed magistrate concerned to monitor probe by Punjab police into an FIR registered on December 7 against Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale in a 2012 alleged case of rape and murder of a woman, reported in Patiala.
The high court, while disposing of the petition from the brother of the woman, observed that despite the information of murder and rape having been given to the police in 2012, the FIR has been registered now on the insistence of the high court.
“This court, for the time being, refrains from handing over investigation of the case to any independent agency and allow the local police to conduct investigation by filing appropriate compliance report of various steps taken in the investigation to the jurisdictional magistrate. If the jurisdictional magistrate finds any of the reports amiss, then the magistrate is directed to send a report to this court,” the bench said, while also underlining that the plea is being disposed of even as the petitioner, brother of the victim, has no trust on the local authorities and he apprehends that they would not conduct the investigation in a free and fair manner.
The FIR was registered on December 7, after the high court sought an affidavit from the state’s director general of police (DGP) following a petition from the brother of the woman in November.
As per the plea from the brother of the victim, a Patiala resident, the woman was poisoned in 2012. His allegations are that his sister was raped and murdered, and police, due to pressure, did not investigate the matter. As per the plea, in 2002 his sister became a follower of Dhadrianwale and used to go to his dera. He has alleged that she was raped by Dhadrianwale and murdered in 2012.
In the report, filed by the DGP, the police had said that Dhadrianwale, who heads Parmeshwar Dwar Gurdwara, a dera in Shekupura village of Patiala district, has been named as accused in the FIR registered under sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Dhadrianwale is said to have a large following in the state and Punjab diaspora overseas.
As per the DGP, between June 19, 2012, and September 9, 2012, the sister of the deceased filed complaints before police seeking action against Dhadrianwale. An enquiry was conducted by then station house officer, Passiana, and recommended the filing of the complaints. It was also approved by the senior superintendent of police, Patiala, on December 7, 2012, and complaints were filed, however, the case was not pursued. Now, two superintendents of police-level officers Sewa Singh Malhi (now retired) and Ashok Kumar, supervisory officers in the case back then, have been issued show-cause notices on December 7.