E-Paper
{2015 sacrilege cases} DGP forms new special team to trace three dera members; withdraws order
The three absconding dera followers were named as accused in the sacrilege cases in 2018; the new Punjab DGP wants results quickly
Faridkot A day after forming a four-member team for a ‘special operation’ in connection with the sacrilege cases, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota has withdrawn his order. Sources said the new team was to be tasked with tracing ‘three absconding members’ of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s national committee, who are accused in sacrilege cases of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015.
The decision (to form a new team) had caused consternation among officers as it was being seen as an attempt to undermine the power of the special investigation team (SIT), led by IG Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, that was already probing sacrilege cases.
The three absconding members of the dera’s national committee — Pardeep Kler, Harsh Dhuri and Sandeep Breta — remain untraced, after they were named as accused in 2018 in the Moga sacrilege case. They were nominated as accused in the Bargari sacrilege case earlier this by the SIT-led by IG Parmar. The SIT claims that the instructions to execute sacrilege at Bargari, Moga and Gurusar were given by the three to the district dera committee members. The trio was purportedly in direct contact with the sect headquarters for hatching the conspiracy. In the absence of the ‘linking evidence,’ the SIT has not gone for the questioning of dera Sirsa head Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
After the retirement of IG Ranbir Singh Khatra in April, IG Parmar had recommended the name of DIG Bhullar to be nominated as a member of the SIT probing the sacrilege cases. However, no new member has been appointed even after six months.
In May, the Parmar-led SIT had arrested six dera followers in connection with two sacrilege cases wherein torn pages of a ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib was found scattered at Bargari on October 12, 2015, and derogatory posters were pasted at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village on September 25, 2015. In July, the SIT filed a charge-sheet against the accused. A supplementary charge-sheet in the case of theft of a ‘bir’ from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village is pending.
PATIALA RANGE LAW
AND ORDER REVIEWED
Patiala The state DGP, Sahota, also meet SSPs falling in Patiala Range to review the policing and law and order situation in this territory. Patiala IG Mukhwinder Singh Chhina was also present in the meeting. With assembly elections to be held next year, the DGP asked the SSPs to adopt a zero tolerance policy against the smuggling of drugs.
He told the force that chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi had ordered that unscrupulous or corrupt police officers were not to be spared. He added district police heads were to dispose of the pending cases at the earliest.
