Akshay Kumar quizzed by SIT over his role in ‘pardon for Dera chief’ : The Tribune India

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Akshay Kumar quizzed by SIT over his role in ‘pardon for Dera chief’

CHANDIGARH: The five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing incidents on Wednesday questioned Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar.



Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 21

The five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing incidents on Wednesday questioned Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar over his role in effecting a pardon for Gurmeet Ram Rahim, controversial head of Dera Sacha Sauda from the Akal Takht in October 2015.

He was questioned for over 40 minutes. Akshay's lawyers had accompanied him.

The state witnessed protests and a political upheaval following the pardoning. Coupled with the series of sacrilege incidents, the pardoning of the Dera head led to protests by Sikh organisations. Police opened fire on October 14 at two such protests in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura leading to death of two and injuries to several others.

Akshay had denied meeting the Dera head and his role in the whole episode. There is no proof in the public domain of his direct involvement in the episode. However, the SIT claims to have “substantial” proof in the matter due to which they have summoned Akshay.

The police headquarters was out of bounds for the media on Wednesday. The sixth floor, where the questioning was held, was sealed for the staff too and that the policemen too could not have a glimpse of the star or sought his autograph and a selfie.                

Soon after his arrival at the Chandigarh airport, the actor headed straight to the Punjab Police headquarters at Sector 9 here where the security was stepped up.

Kumar refused to talk to reporters at the airport.

The SIT wanted to question Kumar as his name was mentioned in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on sacrilege incidents.

The SIT had earlier asked him to appear before it on November 21 at the Amritsar circuit house. However, the police later allowed the actor to appear before the SIT in Chandigarh.

The Justice Ranjit Singh commission report, which was tabled in the Punjab Assembly in August, had given a reference of a letter written (October 9, 2017) to it by former MLA Harbans Jalal claiming that a meeting took place between Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal at the actor's flat in Mumbai in 2015 in connection with the release of the Dera head's movie "MSG".

The meeting was allegedly held before the Dera chief was pardoned in a blasphemy case. The movie "MSG" was not released in Punjab in September 2015 because of an edict by the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, against it.

Kumar had denied arranging any meeting between Sukhbir Singh Badal and the Dera Sacha Sauda sect head.

The actor had also denied having ever met the Sirsa headquartered Dera head, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term in a rape case.

Kumar had issued the denial on November 12 after the SIT summoned him along with former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.  

"It has come to my knowledge that some rumours and false statements are being loosely made on social media about my involvement with a person named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the context of a fictitious meeting involving Sukhbir Singh Badal,” Kumar had said in tweet.

"With all humility, I would like to state the following facts. I have never ever met Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in my life, anywhere. I learnt from social media at some point that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh resided for a while at some place in my locality Juhu in Mumbai but we never crossed each other's paths,” Kumar had said.

The SIT has already questioned former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal in Chandigarh.

On Monday, Sukhbir told SIT members, that he had never met Akshay outside Punjab when he was asked by the SIT members whether he had met the actor in Mumbai.

The summons were related to the investigation of cases involving various incidents of sacrilege in 2015, police had said.               

The summons had been issued under the Section 160 of the CrPC, requiring the attendance for investigation, relating to the Bargari sacrilege case and the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing incidents.

The summons state, "The presence of the aforesaid person is necessary for the purpose of inquiry into the above-mentioned offence” and the person summoned needed “to give such information relating to the said alleged offence as he may possess.”  

The five-member SIT was set up by the state government in September this year.

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