Passing HSGMC budget ‘sans quorum’: Dissenting panel members pin hope on gurdwara judicial commission
Cyber experts find no footage of Dewan Hall from January 1 to 10
As the Kurukshetra police’s cyber expert apprised the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission about the non-availability of the video footage of the Dewan Hall of Gurdwara Patshahi Chhevin, due to lack of space in DVRs and automatic overwriting of data, disappointed dissenting members of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGMC) have pinned all hopes on the commission’s expected orders on February 20.
HSGMC senior vice-president Gurmeet Singh had approached the commission accusing committee president Jagdish Singh Jhinda of making claims related to passing the committee’s budget, despite not having the required quorum in the meeting. The commission had given a direction to the HSGMC to produce the CCTV footage of the Dewan Hall where the budget meeting was held for the period between January 7 and 8, but it was not provided.
Following this, last month the commission directed cyber experts of the police to take the DVRs into its possession, examine them and submit its report. The experts were also directed to report as to whether the CCTV footage from January 1 to 10 was available or not or whether there was any tampering with the DVRs, in order to delete the CCTV footage.
In the report, the police cyber experts stated that the CCTV footage for the period from January 1 to 10 was not available in the examined DVRs due to limited backup capacity and overwriting of data.
The Kurukshetra Police said two DVRs were taken into possession. During examination of DVR-1, it was found that it had a storage capacity of 3.63 TB. A total of 27 CCTV cameras were linked with the DVR, out of which two were installed in Dewan Hall. It had a maximum backup storage capacity of around 13 days, and the last available footage backup date was of January 27. Similarly, the DVR-2, had a storage capacity of 3.63 TB. A total of 12 CCTV cameras were linked with the DVR, of which one was installed in the Dewan Hall. It had a maximum backup storage capacity of around 25 days and the last available CCTV footage backup date was January 15.
No direct or visible signs of physical damage to the DVRs were observed. Any intentional manual deletion or tempering of the footage could not be conclusively established from the available data, the report stated.
Gurmeet Singh, said, “Due to delay by the HSGMC in providing the CCTV footage, and lack of space in DVRs, the police couldn’t find it. We have already apprised the commission with evidence that false claims have been made regarding the completion of the quorum for passing the budget. The next date of hearing is February 20. We have high hopes from the commission that it will give its order against the wrongdoings of the committee president and his supporters.”
Meanwhile, HSGMC president Jagdish Singh Jhinda said, “The police have submitted its report in which it has been confirmed that the CCTV footage is not available in the system. The commission is likely to give its orders on February 20. The committee will hold its executive body and general house meetings on February 17 and 18, respectively, to take some important decisions.”
