Court seeks Behbal Kalan FIR status
FARIDKOT:A local court on Tuesday sought the status report in the Behbal Kalan police firing case registered against unidentified cops for allegedly killing two men protesting against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015.
The court directed the police to submit the report by September 29. The police are yet to name the accused cops in the first information report (FIR).
Krishan Bhagwan of Behbal Khurd village and Gurjeet Singh Bittu of Sarawan village had died after allegedly being shot by cops.
In February, Krishan’s brother Resham Singh filed a complaint against three senior cops, including senior superintendent of police (SSP) Charanjit Sharma, SP Bikramjit Singh and station house officer (SHO) Amarjit Singh, alleging that they fired on people protesting against a sacrilege incident in October 2015.
Later Mahinder Singh, father of Krishan Bhagwan, claimed that inspector general (IG) of police Paramraj Singh Umranangal and inspector Pradeep Singh, who was then posted at Moga as reader to the SSP, also fired bullets.
Meanwhile, Prabhjit Singh, 20, son of Krishan Bhagwan, had told the court that villagers were peacefully protesting against the sacrilege incident.
Prabhjit maintained that he was also present at the spot during the protest when the cops opened fire at the protesters.
THE SACRILEGE
The holy book had gone missing from Jawahar Singh Wala village on June 1, 2015. On October 12, its torn pages were found in Bargadi. Two days later, Krishan Bhagwan Singh, 42, of Behbal Khurd and Gurjeet Singh Bittu, 26, of Sarawan village died in police firing during protests against the sacrilege in Behbal Kalan.
Justice Zora Singh Commission that was constituted to probe the matter submitted its report on July 1, 2016, but it was not made public. On April 14, 2017, the Congress government announced a fresh commission of inquiry under justice Ranjit Singh (retd) to inquire into the sacrilege and the following incidents. The justice Ranjit Singh panel recorded the statements of the victims and the witnesses in the case in earlier this month.