Gurusar sacrilege: Three key Sirsa dera men on SIT radar

FARIDKOT :Three key Dera Sacha Sauda functionaries are on the radar of the special investigation team (SIT) probing the sacrilege cases in 2015. A member of the SIT seeking anonymity confirmed to HT that names of Harsh Dhuri, Sandeep Bareta and Pardeep Kaler have been nominated as accused before a court in the Gurusar sacrilege case on the basis confession of main accused Jatinderbir alias Jimmy Arora.

“The Rampura Phul (Bathinda) court had issued non-bailable warrants against the accused trio earlier this week,” said the official.

A source privy to the investigation said that Harsh Dhuri allegedly handed over the Guru Granth Sahib to Jatinderbir Arora, a member of 45-member state committee of Dera Sirsa, for sacrilege. Arora allegedly executed the plan with the help of Sukhmander Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Daljit Singh, all residents of Bhagta Bhai Ka village in Bathinda district. Jatinderbir was arrested by the SIT on November 7 from IGI Airport, New Delhi, on arrival from Malaysia.

Jimmy and his aides had confessed to their involvement in four more sacrilege incidents reported in and around Gurusar and Bhagta Bhai Ka villages in Bathinda district in 2015.

As per the SIT report submitted to justice (retd) Ranjit Singh Commission (a copy is with HT) Harsh Dhuri, Pardeep Kaler and Sandeep Bareta worked on the directions of Rakesh Dirba who was a personal assistant of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Their names had also surfaced in the Bargari sacrilege case after the arrest of main accused Mohinderpal alias Bittu.

The report said that Sikh hardliners and preachers had been opposing Dera congregations (naam charcha). To counter this, Harsh Dhuri, Pardeep Kaler and Sandeep Bareta discussed with Bittu a plan to attack Baljit Singh Daduwal, who was spearheading protests against the Dera.

“However, when this plan was discussed in the districtlevel meeting of the Dera, the members expressed reservations and this plan was shelved. Thereafter, they planned to carry out some other act to teach SIkh preachers a lesson,” reads the report.

The report further said that Bittu planned to steal a‘bir’ (a copy of Guru Granth Sahib) through Sukhjinder alias Sunny and Randeep alias Neela. Bittu discussed the plan with Dhuri and Kaler at dera headquarters in Sirsa, the report says.

After the Gurusar sacrilege, a case under Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC was registered at the Dialpura police station on October 20, 2015, against unidentified persons on the complaint of the local gurdwara body president Iqbal Singh.

AGENCY HAS NOMINATED NAMES OF HARSH DHURI, SANDEEP BARETA AND PARDEEP KALER AS ACCUSED BEFORE A COURT; NON-BAIALBLE WARRANT ALREADY OUT