Day after arrest, Bhaur sent to judicial custody; more complaints pour in
SBS NAGAR/JALANDHAR : A day after his arrest for allegedly using objectionable language against Dera Sachkhand Ballan leader Ramanand Dass, former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur was sent on Saturday to 14-day judicial remand by the SBS Nagar district and sessions court.
Ramanand, a follower of Guru Ravidas, was murdered in the Austrian city of Vienna in 2009.
Also, police in Jalandhar and Nawanshahr received more complaints against Bhaur on Saturday.
Bhaur, who had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the assembly polls last year, was arrested from Mohali after hundreds of members of the Ravidassia community gheraoed his Banga residence on Friday over a purported video that surfaced on social media.
In Nawanshahr, at least three fresh complaints were received while nearly a dozen associations of the Ravidassia community met Jalandhar police commissioner Praveen Kumar Sinha to lodge a complaint against Bhaur.
“A complaint was lodged at the police station concerned and legal opinion has been sought whether to register a first information report (FIR) as a case is already registered against him at SBS Nagar,” Sinha said.
Banga deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Deepika Singh said they received three more complaints from Phagwara and Adampur associations.
“As a case has already been registered and so no action will be taken on these complaints,” she said.
A case was registered on Friday under Section 295-A (malicious acts to outrage religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act against Bhaur at the Banga police station. Satpal Kahlon, the complainant, had said they suspect Bhaur to be behind Ramanand Dass’s murder.
‘IT IS A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED CASE’
The Dal Khalsa slammed the Punjab government for the arrest of former SGPC Sukhdev Singh Bhaur. “The arrest is motivated by reasons other than legal. Bhaur should be released immediately and the case be withdrawn,” Dal Khalsa leaders HS Dhami and Kanwar Pal Singh said in a press release.
“The Congress government acted in an undue haste and under political pressure. Bhaur has apologised for his remarks against the late Dera Ballan sect head,” the Dal Khalsa leaders added.