CBI seeks time to analyse SC order

BARGARI SACRILEGE Punjab objects to agency’s demand saying probe already delayed; next hearing on March 6

MOHALI: The CBI court on Tuesday deferred the hearing of the Bargari sacrilege case after the central probe agency sought 15 days to examine the Supreme Court’s order upholding Punjab government ’s decision to take back all sacrilege cases from it. The case will now come up for hearing on March 6.

The Supreme Court on February 20 had dismissed the CBI’s plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order through which it had last year refused to interfere with the Punjab

government’s decision to take back all sacrilege cases from the central probe agency.

The court was to hear arguments on the closure report, giving a clean chit to Dera Sacha Sauda followers — Mohinder Pal Bittu who was murdered in

Nabha jail last year; Sukhjinder Singh, alias Sunny; and Shakti Singh — in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege cases.

On July 4, 2019, the CBI filed a closure report in three 2015 cases of sacrilege — theft of a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib from a Burj

Jawahar Singh Wala village on June 1; putting up of handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 25; and torn pages of ‘bir’ being found at Bargari on October 12. The previous SADBJP government had handed over the cases to the CBI in November 2015.

Punjab objected to the CBI’s demand for more time saying that the investigations have already been delayed. “Sea change of circumstances have taken place in view of the SC and HC orders,” submitted Sanjiv Batra, special public prosecutor. Punjab submitted that the consent to handing over the investigation has already been withdrawn, thus the investigations are now out of the CBI’s jurisdiction. “I had appeared before the court thinking that the CBI would handover the case files to us after the SC order,” submitted SIT head Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who appeared before the court.

The counsel of the complainant submitted before the court that they are suffering owing to the fight over investigations of the cases. “We want justice but we are suffering due to fight between agencies over who will investigate,” counsels for the complainants submitted.