Maur blasts: High court summons head of SIT

CHANDIGARH: Dissatisfied over the investigation of Maur twin blasts in Bathinda on January 31, 2017, ahead of February 4 assembly elections, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday summoned special investigation team (SIT) chairman Ranbir Singh Khatra.

The order was passed by the high court bench of chief justice Krishna Murari and justice Arun Palli during the resumed hearing of a petition seeking handing over of the probe to National Investigation Agency (NIA) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Seven persons were killed in the blasts.

Mohinder Singh Joshi, the counsel for petitioner Gurjeet Singh Patran, submitted that ever since the link of some Dera Sacha Sauda followers cropped up, the probe slowed down.

Punjab Police submitted its status report on the investigation, but Joshi pointed out that no progress has been made.

Following this, court has now summoned the SIT head on August 21.

Other members of the SIT include Sukhminder Singh Mann, Rajinder Singh Sohal, Sulakhan Singh Mann, Dalbir Singh and then station house officer, Dayalpura, Harpreet Singh. The report said three persons — Gurtej Singh, Amrik Singh and Avtar Singh — have been named as accused in the case, but are still at large. They were named in February 2018.

Joshi had alleged that the vehicle used in the blast was prepared in a workshop of the Dera Sacha Sauda at Sirsa and two of those identified as accused were close associates of dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The SIT failed to interrogate Ram Rahim in the case, which was a part of a deep-rooted conspiracy to get sympathy votes in the assembly elections, Joshi had alleged.