HC judge should monitor sacrilege probe: SAD leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal

Chandigarh, November 12

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today demanded the entire investigation into the sacrilege case be monitored by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The party alleged Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa were responsible for hatching a conspiracy by holding a secret meeting at the Raj Bhawan on October 22. He said the meeting was attended by DGP IPS Sahota, Home Secretary Anurag Verma, former Advocate General APS Deol, SIT Chairman SPS Parmar, AIG RS Sohal, SSP Mukhwinder Bhullar, DSP Lakhbir Singh, and Inspector Dalbir Singh, retired police officers RS Khattra and Sulakhan Singh, and legislators Kushaldeep Dhillon and Kulbir Zira.

SAD leader Maheshinder Grewal alleged the purpose of the meeting was to fix the Opposition, especially the Badal family, by implicating it in false cases. Grewal, along with other party leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra and Daljit Cheema urged the Governor to provide the party with the CCTV footage of the Raj Bhawan of October 22 so that the party could prove the conspiracy being hatched against it. They also demanded the Chief Minister and the Home Minister should disclose why a meeting of the SIT was held in such a secret fashion and why retired police officers had been associated with it. — TNS

Charge ‘baseless’

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa termed the allegation of conspiracy levelled by Akalis as baseless. “As the Home Minister, I keep meeting police officers regarding law and order. Instead of trying to scuttle a fair probe, they should face the SIT,” he said.

Accused misled

The State Forensic Science Laboratory, in its report on handwriting samples of Sukhjinder Singh, accused of writing blasphemous posters in three sacrilege incidents of Faridkot in 2015, has claimed he tried to modify some letter formats in an attempt to disguise his natural writing.