Now, CBI announces cash reward

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 1

Three years after Mata Chand Kaur, wife of late Namdhari leader Satguru Jagjit Singh, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants at Bhaini Sahib, the premier investigation agency — Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — has announced a cash reward of Rs5 lakh and released old sketches of two suspects involved in the incident.

These are the same sketches that were released by the Punjab Police in 2016, a few days after the murder that took place on April 4, 2016.

A few days back on May 28, the CBI office in Chandigarh had released the sketches of suspects on the basis of investigation conducted by the agency so far.

In the advertisement issued by the CBI, it is mentioned that the name of the person, who will inform about the suspects, will be kept secret.

Lakhvir Singh Baddowal, spokesperson of Bhaini Sahib, told The Tribune that despite the CBI investigating the case for over two years, it had failed to get any vital lead in the case so far. Even the sketches of suspects, which were already released by the Punjab Police immediately after the murder, have been released by the CBI again. The only new thing it did was the announcement of Rs5 lakh cash reward, he said.

“When sect’s matriarch was shot dead by two bike-borne, Namdhari Sect had also announced a cash reward of Rs20 lakh, while Rs10 lakh cash reward was announced by the Punjab Police and now, the CBI has announced Rs5 lakh cash reward,” the spokesperson said, adding: “Now, almost three years later, neither the Punjab Police, nor the CBI have been able to get any vital clues about the assailants.”

“Namdhari sect head, Bhaini Sahib, Satguru Uday Singh has arrived from his tour from Australia and he will soon form a panel of followers, who will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah. We will urge the newly appointed Home Minister to seek speedy probe in the murder case of Mata Chand Kaur. We will also ask the minister to shift the murder case of Namdhari leader Avtar Singh Tari (57), who was shot dead by two unidentified persons on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh highway on April 12, 2011, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). We will also request the Home Minster to shift the case of tiffin bombs, which were meant to be used against Namdhari sect head Satguru Uday Singh in Jalandhar on December 25, 2015, so that the main conspirator can be nabbed,” the spokesperson said.

In the previous NDA government, a panel from Bhaini Sahib had met the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh and it was only then that the probe was given to the CBI.

Notably, Tari was the staunch follower of Satguru Jagjit Singh.