Arrest of Kaler likely to ‘help’ Faridkot cops tie up loose ends

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 10

A day after the arrest of a key suspect and a proclaimed offender (PO) from Gurugram in the high-profile 2015 sacrilege cases, the police on Saturday produced Pardeep Kaler before a court here and got his two-day remand.

The police believe that Kaler’s questioning will help tie up many loose ends in the sacrilege incidents. Sources revealed that during his preliminary questioning, it was found that he was the main link between Mohinder Pal Bittu of Kotkapura and Dera Sacha Sauda head Ram Rahim Gurmeet Singh allegedly to execute acts of sacrilege.

Three sacrilege-related cases were registered in 2015 in Faridkot. The first case, pertaining to the theft of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village was registered on June 1, 2015. The second case, relating to posting of two posters with derogatory remarks against the Sikh religion and Gurus was registered on September 25, 2015. The third incident dates to October 12, 2015, when torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found outside a gurdwara at Bargari village.

The police had nominated eight persons in the cases and three of the accused, including Kaler, were absconding. Other absconding accused are dera members Sandeep Bareta and Harsh Dhuri.

Bittu, who was arrested in 2018, allegedly killed by two persons in Nabha jail on June 22, 2019.

A resident of Kaithal, Kaler was a member of the national executive committee of the Dera Sacha Sauda. Other than the three sacrilege cases, Kaler is facing similar charges at the Dayalpura police station in Bathinda and the Smalsar police station in Moga.

“Questioning of Kaler will help us in putting up our case more strongly before the court to seek the conviction of the accused in the sacrilege cases,” said Gursharan Singh Sandhu, Inspector General of Police, Faridkot.

The police were able to lay hand on Kaler after some social media posts went viral last week. In the posts, Pardeep was supposedly seen serving at a community kitchen in Ayodhya.

Taking note of the posts, a Faridkot CIA staff team had left for Ayodhya and started mapping his locations. After a week, the CIA staff was able to locate him at Gurugram.

Arrest to help strengthen case

Questioning of Kaler will help us in putting up our case more strongly before the court to seek the conviction of the accused in the sacrilege cases. — Gursharan Singh Sandhu, inspector general of police, Faridkot

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