Sacrilege incidents: Some headway, but cops yet to join dots

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

For the past four days, the Punjab Police have been questioning six followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda for their alleged role in a series of sacrilege incidents of 2015, but they are keeping mum on details of the investigation.

News reports quoting sources within an SIT claim that a group of dera followers and their leader Mohinder Singh Bittu have confessed to their crime and the police have recovered evidence from them. But senior police officers are in denial mode.

The DGP, Suresh Arora, said the CBI was investigating the cases and the probe was in progress. He said information would be made public once something substantial emerged.

Senior officers said the group of dera followers was prime suspects in the theft of a bir of the Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Wala village on June 1, 2015, and later recovery of torn pages of the bir from Bargari village in October 2015. The group is also suspected to have pasted posters against the Sikh holy book in Bargari village the same month.

Police sources said the SIT had made progress, but it was yet to join the dots. So, the police were yet to nominate these persons in the sacrilege incidents.

Moga SSP Raj Jit Singh Hundal and SP (Investigations) Vazir Singh had announced two days ago that suspects, including Sukhjinder Singh, Nishaan Singh and Ranjit Singh (all from Kotkapura), Randeep Singh of Faridkot, Shakti Singh of Romana village (Faridkot), Baljit Singh of Sikhan Wala village (Faridkot) and their leader Bittu, were arrested in connection with rioting in Moga in March 2011.

Police sources said another hitch in not declaring the details of the investigation was that the CBI was yet to go through the Punjab Police findings.