CBI to probe Punjab sacrilege

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 1

The Punjab Government today transferred to the CBI the investigation of three cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in Faridkot district.

The cases were registered at Bajakhana police station. These were related to: theft of the holy book at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in June; putting up of posters in September (at the village as well as Bargari), which incited the Sikhs to protest the theft and the pardon by Akal Takht to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in an alleged blasphemy case; and the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib with its torn pages being found at Bargari.

The FIRs were registered under various IPC sections on the charges of theft, hurting religious sentiments and criminal conspiracy. At present, the cases were being probed by a special investigation team headed by IPS Sahota, Additional Director General of Police.

With the police investigations reaching a dead end, mainly because of radical elements allegedly stalling the probe by creating hurdles in the interrogation of some suspects, the state government thought it fit to hand over the investigation to the CBI, said an official.

“A demand for handing over the investigation to the central agency was also made by leaders of the Sant Samaj and other Sikh organisations, besides the siblings of the two brothers— Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh—arrested for the Bargari sacrilege,” said sources . The SIT too had yesterday  reportedly conveyed to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal that the investigation be handed over to the CBI since the two brothers had refused to undergo a lie-detector test.

Various Sikh outfits had been demanding unconditional release of the brothers and were also opposed to the government conducting the lie-detector test on them.