Declared ‘tankhaiya’, jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh to appear before Akal Takht

he Panj Pyare had held an eight-hour long meeting at Patna Sahib on Sunday and declared jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty) while Dr Gurwinder Singh Samra has also been found guilty of “publicising the issue of embezzlement before the media unnecessarily”.

Takht Patna Sahib jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh on Monday decided to go to Akal Takht, Amritsar, to present his side of the story after he was declared ‘tankhaiya (guilty)’ by Panj Pyare late on Sunday night. The jathedar has been accused of embezzlement of donations in the form of gold and other items to the tune of ₹5 crore. The allegations were made by Dr Gurwinder Singh Samra, a resident of Kartapur.

Jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh said, “It (embezzlement claim) is a baseless allegation against me and I have decided to put forth my end of the story before the Akal Takht.” (HT File)

Jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh said, “It is a baseless allegation against me and I have decided to put forth my end of the story before the Akal Takht.”

The Panj Pyare had held an eight-hour long meeting at Patna Sahib on Sunday and declared jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty) while Dr Gurwinder Singh Samra has also been found guilty of “publicising the issue of embezzlement before the media unnecessarily”.

Samra had donated gold, diamond and other items worth ₹5 crore related at Takht Sahib in April this year. He has been asked to organise three days of ‘Akhand path’ at Guru Darbar, to serve langar halls and shoe houses and donate ₹1,100 for ‘Kahra Prasad’.

The embezzlement of donated items came to light after former general secretary, Takht Sahib, Mahendra Pal Singh Dhillon brought the issue before Takht Sahib Prabandhak Committee late president Avatar Singh Hit. Later, Hit constituted a three-member team to probe it. The committee found Giani guilty and submitted his report to the committee. As the matter had come to the notice, the Prabandhak committee had terminated the services of jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh on August 28.

Giani Ranjit Singh was appointed the jathedar of Takht Sahib in September 2019 after the removal of jatherdar Giani Iqbal Singh, who was also removed following some controversies.