Techie from Delhi mistakenly held in Punjab sacrilege case

The man arrested at Bengaluru airport on Tuesday in the 2015 was mistaken for the prime accused Sandeep Bareta, Punjab Police said on Wednesday.

The man arrested at Bengaluru airport on Tuesday in the 2015 Punjab sacrilege case turned out to be a techie from Delhi who was mistaken for the prime accused Sandeep Bareta, Punjab Police said on Wednesday.

Sandeep Mannan (left), who belongs to Delhi and works in a tech company in Bengaluru, was detained on Monday night and (right) Sandeep Bareta, wanted by Punjab Police in connection with the sacrilege cases of 2015. The Bengaluru airport authorities detained Sandeep Mannan as his first name, father’s name, and birth year matched with Bareta’s as mentioned in the lookout circular. (HT Photos)

The man arrested by the police was identified as Sandeep Mannan, an employee of a tech firm in the Karnataka capital.

On Tuesday, Punjab Police tweeted that Bareta, the prime accused and one of the three absconding Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda members who were involved in the 2015 sacrilege case, was arrested at Bengaluru airport when he was trying to flee to Singapore. Punjab Police also shared a photograph of Mannan, whom they assumed to be the accused person.

On Wednesday, when a Punjab Police team visited Bengaluru to take custody of the arrested person, they realised that it was a case of mistaken identity.

“A communication from the immigration authorities at Bengaluru airport was received regarding the detention of Sandeep, matching the description of sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta, on the basis of a lookout circular (LOC) issued by Faridkot police. The matter was promptly verified. It has been found that the detained person at Bengaluru airport is not the wanted sacrilege accused Sandeep Bareta. He is Sandeep Mannan, a resident of New Delhi who works in a tech company in Bengaluru,” PK Yadav, IGP of Faridkot range, said in a statement.

According to a police officer, Mannan was detained as his first name, father’s name and birth year matched with that of Barpeta as mentioned in the LOC. “But the address of the detained man was of Delhi, while Bareta, who belongs to Bareta in Mansa district, was living in Sirsa, Haryana, before he went underground,” the officer said. Mannan, meanwhile, continued to remain in Bengaluru Police’s custody. One of his neighbours said that his family is in the process of completing the paper work for his release.