West Bengal resident booked for sacrilege in Ajnala

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 6

A day after the alleged sacrilege instance was reported at Bhangupur village, the police have booked the accused identified as Zedrol, a resident of Malda, West Bengal, on charges of hurting religious sentiments of a community.

Amritsar (rural) Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kaushal said medical examination of the suspect was conducted to ascertain not only his mental state of mind, but also whether he was a drug addict.

“The health official also got his dope test conducted as he consumed some pills before he was caught by sangat and later handed over to the police,” he said.

The situation turned tense after a large number of people gathered near Gurdwara Nanaksar. The accused had picked up Guru Granth Sahib from “Palki Sahib” and put it on a table before stealing “Rumala Sahib”. He also lifted “Sri Sahib” from its place. The entire incident was captured on a CCTV camera.

Despite the fact that the managements of religious places had been requested not to left the shrines alone and ensure the presence of some persons on the complex, the gurdwara at Bhangupur village was left unattended, the SSP said.

The complex remained unattended for at least six hours, which give the accused a chance to enter the gurdwara.

A number of senior police officials, including the SSP and other police personnel were deputed in Ferozepur for the Prime Minister’s rally.

Kaushal said considering the previous incidents, which took place at the Golden Temple and Kapurthala district, we did not wanted the repetition and immediately rushed cops to the spot and took custody of the suspect.

“Residents and members of different Sikh organisations asked the police to hand over the accused in order to give him exemplary punishment, but cops kept their cool and remained firm not to hand him over to them,” he said and added that this would have destroyed the evidence.

“Till 2.30 am, I remained in touch with the DGP, IG (Border Range) and other senior police and administrative officials, besides different Sikh bodies and continued to pacify the people who gathered outside the gurdwara,” said the SSP.