Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

Ex-Damdama Sahib jathedar receives ‘death threat’ via letter

- HT Correspond­ent

AMRITSAR: The former Takht Sri Damdama Sahib jathedar Giani Gurmukh Singh claimed to have received a letter threatenin­g to kill him on Monday.

Gurmukh Singh said that the letter has been allegedly sent from an unknown follower of Sirsa based Dera Sacha Sauda. Gurmukh Singh was removed as head, from one of the five temporal seats of Sikhism, by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in April.

He said that he was informed by his family members about a bag hung on his house’s gate at Arif ke village of Ferozpur district on Monday morning.

“The bag had two pages addressed to me. My family sent its clipping to me on Whatsapp,” he said. Showing the letter, hand-written in Punjabi with no name and signature, he said, “An unknown dera premi has threatened and used objectiona­ble language against me.”

He said, “I informed Punjab DGP Suresh Arora and lodged a complaint to the police commission­er Amritsar. After going through the letter, both the officers called me and assured that they are with me.”

The former jathedar said he will not seek any security in the wake of the threat. “Entire community and the SGPC stands with me, then why will I demand the security”.

“It is not a personal threat, whosoever has sent the letter has challenged the entire Panth,” he opined about the letter, the writer of which objected his move to ‘restrain’ Naam Charchas (congregati­on of dera Sirsa) and to face consequenc­es for it.

He made it clear that they restrained the Naam Charchas as per Akal Takht’s hukamnama. “If they have any objection.I don’t bother as we did everything as per maryada”, he said.

The letter also reads, “We do all things by making prior announceme­nts like we did Bargari sacrilege.” Reacting on this, Gurmukh Singh said, “Responsibi­lity of committing Bargari sacrilege incident has been taken up openly and it is up to the administra­tion to act accordingl­y.” GURDASPUR: A Dhariwal resident, Rakesh Kumar, has made a written complaint with chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Jalandhar police deputy commission­er against Tarlochan Singh of Jaspalpur near Phagwara, who allegedly got the bus permit meant for Rakesh’s company by submitting a false affidavit.

As per the affidavit Tarlochan is the managing director of Rohini Bus Transport Company, which is actually owned by Rakesh.

Meanwhile Tarlochan has denied the charges. Rakesh said that Tarlochan was forcibly running his bus under the name of Rajdhani Transport Company. He said that the bus permit for Gurdaspur-Hoshiarpur via Sri Hargobindp­ur and Tanda was issued by the Regional Trasport Authority,Jalandhar in 2006, in the name of Rohini Bus Transport Company, owned by him.

His father KK Sharma had allowed Tarlochan to run the bus against a yearly fixed profit, but he submitted a false affidavit to the authority that he is the MD of the transport company and got the bus route changed to BatalaHosh­iarpur via Harchowal-Sri Hargobindp­ur-Tanda.

Rakesh said that when he asked Tarlochan to return the bus permit after the death of his father in 2009,Tarlochan denied to return the bus permit.

SAYS HE HAS INFORMED PUNJAB DGP SURESH ARORA AND LODGED A COMPLAINT WITH THE AMRITSAR POLICE COMMISSION­ER

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