KTF planned to kill accused dera man, but SIT got him first
FARIDKOT: The banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) planned to kill dera Sacha Sauda follower Shakti Singh, who is an accused in three cases registered in connection with the Bargari sacrilege.
However, the special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2015 sacrilege cases arrested him along with other accused before the KTF operatives could execute their plan, officials said.
The SIT led by inspector general of police (IGP) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar had arrested six dera followers, including Shakti, on May 16 for Bargari sacrilege. While the two KTF operatives, who allegedly killed a dera follower in Bathinda last year, were arrested by Moga police on May 22.
It was revealed during the interrogation of four KTF operatives arrested by Moga police in connection with a murder case. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harmandeep Singh Gill said that on the instructions of KTF’s Canadabased chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, outfit’s operatives Lovepreet Singh, Ram Singh and Kamaljeet killed a dera follower in Bathinda last year. “Their next target was Shakti Singh. We are interrogating them to know whether there were more people on their list,” he added.
A prominent dera follower, Manohar Lal, who was a member of 25 members committee of Dera Sacha Sauda and also father of Jatinderbir Singh Jimmy, who is an accused in Gurusar sacrilege incident, was shot dead in Bathinda in November last year.
According to police sources, the dera followers accused in Bargari, Malke and Gurusar sacrilege cases are on the target of KTF. “While police were already alert, the KTF operatives were still working on plan
SIT CLAIM SHAKTI WAS AMONG DERA FOLLOWERS WHO STOLE ‘BIR’ FROM BURJ JAWAHAR SINGH WALA AND LATER SCATTERED ITS TORN PAGES NEAR BARGARI GURDWARA
to eliminate Shakti. But the SIT arrested Shakti in-between,” sources added.
Shakti is now in judicial custody at Mansa jail. The SIT has claimed that Shakti was among dera followers who stole ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village and later scattered its torn pages near Bargari gurudwara to “avenge an alleged insult of Sirsa-based dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim by Sikh preachers” in 2015.
Police remand of 2 dera men held in poster case extended
A Faridkot court on Friday extended the police custody of two dera followers —Sukhjinder Singh Sunny and Baljit Singh —for pasting derogatory posters near a gurdwara at Bargari village in 2015. The SIT argued in the court that further police custody is required to recover a vehicle used by the accused in the crime, after which the judicial magistrate Tarjini sent them to two-day police custody.