Shiv Sena leader Harvinder Soni arrested in Gurdaspur

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, November 19

Following a two-day protest by Nihangs, the Gurdaspur police have arrested Punjab Shiv Sena (Thackeray) leader Harvinder Soni from his residence situated on the Gurdaspur-Batala road, today afternoon.

One SP, two DSPs and an equal number of SHOs accompanied a team of 40 cops that reached Soni’s house around 3.15 pm.

SSP Deepak Hilori confirmed the arrest. Earlier, since this morning, there were rumours that Soni would be arrested.

Soni was produced before a court where the cops sought his police remand. However, the judge denied the police custody and remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. He was taken to the Civil Hospital for medical examination after which he was sent to the Gurdaspur Central Jail.

On April 13, 2015, a Sikh youth, Kashmir Singh, had fired at Soni at the Fish Park, barely yards away from the official residence of the Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner (Read news). Keeping in view the seriousness of his injury and the fact that he was ranked high in the hit list of radical Sikhs, the then DGP Sumedh Saini had made a dash from Chandigarh to Fortis Hospital in Amritsar, where he was referred to.

Following this incident, a threat perception report was prepared on the basis of which he was provided with over 10 security guards.

On November 15 and 16, around a hundred Nihangs owing loyalty to different factions had organised a protest outside the SSP’s office seeking Soni’s arrest. They were apparently irked at Soni’s remarks against the Sikh community. A video of his utterances also went viral, complicating matters for him.

To break the 36-hour-long impasse, an FIR was registered at the City police station under Sections 295-A (hurting religious sentiments), 504 (provocation leading to disruption of public peace) and 505 of the IPC (conducting public mischief).

A SIT was also constituted after the FIR was registered.

Speaking to The Tribune two days ago, Soni said he was expecting the police action against him.

“I do not know what my future is. I have already apologised for my statement, which in any case was made in haste. I know, I have offended many radical organisations. Let us see how things unfold from this particular point of time,” he had said.

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