Book Randhawa, Justice Ranjit for manipulating witness, demands Akali Dal

› Justice Ranjit Singh has disgraced his profession and acted as a mouthpiece of the Congress government. DALJIT SINGH CHEEMA, SAD

CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR: The core committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday demanded registration of a case against Justice Ranjit Singh (retd), who is heading a commission to probe series of sacrilege cases of Guru Granth Sahib, and action against jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for manipulating witness in the panel report.

The committee led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and attended by former chief minister and party patron Parkash Singh Badal demanded dismissal of the commission and cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. The committee also demanded that Randhwa be booked for criminal conspiracy.

On Monday, key witness Himmat Singh retracted from his statement against the Badal family over their alleged role in securing pardon for the Dera Sacha Sauda chief to the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission. Himmat, a former granthi of the Akal Takht and brother of former Takht Damdama Sahib jathedar Gurmukh Singh, had also accused Randhawa of pressuring him to sign documents submitted to Justice Ranjit Singh in his office on his name.

SAD leaders resolved that Randhawa and Justice Ranjit Singh have committed grievous acts of creating false evidence on a sensitive religious issue of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.

Talking to the media, party spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said through this report, the Congress government was deliberately trying to attack the sacred and historic institutions of the Sikhs. “Justice Ranjit Singh has in the process disgraced his profession and acted as a mouthpiece of the Congress government, that too on an issue affecting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs,” said Cheema.

The core committee demanded that a sitting judge of the Supreme Court should inquire into the sequence of events of sacrilege incidents.

Cheema said a meeting of all party MLAS would be convened to chalk out a strategy for the monsoon session of the Punjab assembly starting August 24. The report of the Ranjit panel is expected to be tabled in the House during the session.

The committee also observed a two-minute silence as mark of respect to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away on August 16, and former Punjab minister and Chhattisgarh governor Balramji Das Tandon, who died on August 14.

MAJITHIA SEEKS CBI PROBE

Former Akali minister and Majitha MLA Bikram Singh Majithia on Tuesday sought a CBI inquiry on the role of the commission head and Punjab jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

Majithia, who was addressing a rally at Khilchian village in the Baba Bakala assembly segment said, key witness Himmat Singh has uncovered the conspiracy hatched against the Badal family in the name of investigating sacrilege incidents.

Terming reports of the commission fabricated, he said this is an act of vitiating peaceful atmosphere of Punjab and disturbing communal harmony. Seeking a legal action against those behind the “conspiracy”, Majitiha said the probe should be done by the sitting judge of the Supreme Court in the sacrilege issue.

“This conspiracy has been hatched by Congress government to defame the Shiromani Akali Dal and to grab the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Parallel jathedars are also the product of the Congress and are part of this conspiracy. For revealing the truth, Himmat is receiving threats which are shameful,” said Majitiha.