US ambassador visits Bangla Sahib, offers tough probe

In a bid to pacify the enraged Sikh community after the bizarre incident of shooting at a gurdwara in Wisconsin, US ambassador to India Nancy Powell paid a short visit to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in the capital on Monday afternoon.

In a bid to pacify the enraged Sikh community after the bizarre incident of shooting at a gurdwara in Wisconsin, US ambassador to India Nancy Powell paid a short visit to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in the capital on Monday afternoon.

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"We are deeply saddened by the incident; particularly it happened in the house of worship. It's a ghastly act of violence. The US through the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the local police will conduct a thorough investigation," Powell said.

Powell offered her condolences on behalf of the entire US mission in New Delhi.

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee also handed over a memorandum to Powell, requesting the US government to curb the growing gun culture in the US. The committee also sought adequate police protection to Sikhs and gurdwaras in the US.

Meanwhile, the Delhi gurdwara committee has announced R1 lakh as relief amount for the families of the deceased and also offered $5,000 to the US policeman who suffered injuries in the attack while trying to save the hostages in the gurdwara.

"If the law permits, we would like to felicitate the policeman. The president of the US Gurdwara Committee has said the number of causalities would have been higher had the police not acted timely," said Harvinder Singh Sarna, of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

On Monday, several Sikh organisations staged protests in the capital over the incident.