Bail plea of sacrilege accused dismissed in vandalism case

: Moga additional district and sessions judge Charanjeet Arora on Monday dismissed the bail plea of Dera Sacha Sauda followers Mohinder Pal Bittu, Sukhjinder Singh, alias Sunny Kanda, and Shakti Singh, in a 2011 case registered under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, at the Moga police station. The three are also accused in the Bargari sacrilege case.

Moga senior superintendent of police Gurpreet Singh Toor confirmed that the bail plea has been rejected.

The trio filed the bail application on September 13, the day when the Mohali special CBI court granted them bail in the Bargari sacrilege case. Later, the court issued notice to the state for September 21.

On March 7, 2011, around 200 followers of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, led by Bittu, blocked the Moga-Kotkapura road, damaged vehicles and also thrashed commuters. A case was registered against the three and later Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Sections of the Arms Act were added to the FIR after police recovered revolvers, rifles and cartridges from them.

The sacrilege incident had triggered a statewide outrage after a ‘bir’ (copy of Guru Granth Sahib) was stolen from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara at Bargari village.

SENT TO 3-DAY POLICE REMAND IN OTHER CASE

Faridkot additional civil judge and judicial magistrate Ekta Uppal on Monday remanded the trio in three-day police custody for outraging religious feelings. They will be produced in the court on October 4.

On 16 June this year, a special investigation team (SIT) found a desecrated holy book and 28 cartridge shells from Bittu’s house in Kotkapura. A case was registered against Bittu at the Kotkapura city police station.