Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

SIT raids dera men’s houses in Kotkapura, claims seizure of desecrated holy book

- Gagandeep Jassowal gagandeep@htlive.com

KOTKAPURA (FARIDKOT): The special investigat­ion team (SIT) on Tuesday conducted search at the house of Dera Sacha Sauda committee member Mohinder Pal Bittu, prime accused in the Bargari sacrilege incident, and another dera follower Sukhjinder Singh alias Sunny Kanda at Kotkapura and claimed to have recovered a desecrated holy book and 28 used cartridges from the former’s place.

Bittu and Kanda are among seven dera followers whom the police have arrested in connection with the sacrilege case in the last two days. The accused are presently in the custody of the crime investigat­ing agency (CIA) in Jagraon. The recovered desecrated Sikh holy book is ‘Janam Sakhi of Guru Nanak Dev’ while the used cartridges of .32 bore pistol, SIT said.

After this, police registered a fresh case against Bittu under section 295-A (outraging religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.

SIT also rounded up Sunny Kanda’s cousin Narinder Kanda after recovering a licensed .32 bore pistol and a .12 bore rifle which belong to Sunny’s father.

The search was conducted by deputy inspector general (DIG) Ranbir Singh Khatra, the SIT head, and Faridkot senior superinten­dent of police (SSP) Nanak Singh. They claimed to have carried out videograph­y of the search operation.

“We are probing two cases of sacrilege — torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib which were found at Malke village in Moga district in November 2015 and Guru sar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October that year,” Khatra said.

“The CBI is probing three cases of sacrilege at Bargari. But we are also investigat­ing our cases with links to the Bargari sacrilege. We have rounded up Bittu in the Malke and Gurusar Bhagta sacrilege cases and he has also emerged as the main conspirato­r in the Moga rioting case of 2011,” added Khatra.

A local court sent the six arrested dera followers in remand for four days after the Moga police said they needed to get evidence from them in the Bargari sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib three years ago, besides other similar incidents.

SIT told the court that the accused have crucial informatio­n about other sacrilege incidents that took place in recent years in Punjab.

SHARE PROBE REPORT, DEMANDS DAL KHALSA

The Dal Khalsa urged chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to come out with a detailed report of the investigat­ion into the Bargari sacrilege case.

The Dal Khalsa leaders who visited Bargari also participat­ed in a protest staged by parallel acting jathedar Dhian Singh Mand and others since June 1. They also demanded that the culprits of the Behbal Kalan police firing be brought to the book as they were being shielded by the state machinery.

 ?? HT ?? 28 used cartridges were found too from house of Dera Sacha Sauda committee member Mohinder Bittu, say cops.
HT 28 used cartridges were found too from house of Dera Sacha Sauda committee member Mohinder Bittu, say cops.

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