Month-old sacrilege case cracked

Raikot, May 28

The Hathur police claim to have solved a case of sacrilege registered at Lamme Jattpura village near here a month ago.

Paltu Ram of Ram Nagar Chandanpur in Katihar district of Bihar has been arrested. He has confessed to his involvement in the reported desecration of Sikh religious books (Sanchian) on April 29.

The accused — staying in the house of a Mumbai-based Sikh family for the past 20 years — is sporting a beard and long hair.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ludhiana (Rural) Surjit Singh said Paltu Ram was nabbed when he was trying to leave Lamme Jattpura today.

Villagers had found many torn pages of the holy book at the T-point on the outskirts of the village on April 29.

The incident had triggered tension in the area after office-bearers and activists of radical Sikh organisations held protests against the alleged police inaction.

Some of the pages of traditional poetry were also among the holy pages. The author of the poetry was identified as Sant Singh Kawishar, paternal uncle of Harbans Singh, the owner of the house where Paltu Ram was a tenant.

The probe revealed that the landlords of the house had visited the village in April and had got the house whitewashed. Probably, the religious books were left unattended after the landlord’s family left the village and Paltu Ram — unaware of consequences of his act — threw those on the road. — OC