Sacrilege: 10 dera men sent to judicial custody

Tribune News Service

Moga, June 19

A judicial court in Moga on Tuesday sent 10 followers (premis) of the Dera Sacha Sauda to 14-day judicial custody. They were arrested in connection with the ongoing probe into cases of sacrilege at Bargarhi and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages in Faridkot district and an incident of rioting in Moga district.

A senior official of the local police said they all were produced in the court through video conferencing from the CIA-Staff due to security concerns. The police remand ended on Tuesday.

Later, a team of the police took all of them to the Faridkot jail under tight security.  

The police had arrested Mohinder Pal Bittu, state committee member of the dera, Sukhjinder Singh, Nishaan Singh and Ranjit Singh of Kotkapura, Randeep Singh of Faridkot, Shakti Singh of Romana village (Faridkot), Baljit Singh of Sikhan Wala village (Faridkot), Pardeep Singh, Narinder Sharma and Sandip Singh. During investigations, a team of the CBI came to Moga on Sunday to interrogate the dera premis. The main cases of sacrilege were handed over to the CBI for investigation by the state government. Moga SSP Raj Jit Singh Hundal said the district police had provided the CBI team full access to the suspects so as to ensure that the guilty were punished.

The Moga police had arrested these dera men in a case of rioting registered in 2011. An officer said the police had got mobile phone locations of Bittu and his accomplices during the time of sacrilege incidents at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, which indicated his role. Besides, some material evidences were also recovered from their houses. “We have evidence to prove that Bittu and his associates were behind the incidents,” a senior police official added.