Arrest main accused in 2 weeks, HC orders SIT The high court observed the probe into the case so far had been unsatisfactory
CHANDIGARH : The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday gave two weeks to the Punjab Police’s special investigating team (SIT) to arrest the main accused in the 2017 Maur blasts, saying the probe into the case so far has been unsatisfactory.
The twin blasts that occurred on January 31, 2017, ahead of the Punjab assembly elections had left seven persons dead.
The high court was hearing a petition by Gurjeet Singh Patran who is demanding that probe be handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) or the Central Bureau of Investigation. Since the names of some Dera Sacha Sauda followers have cropped up, the probe has slowed down, he alleged.
The case, which was filed in May 2018, was disposed of by
the high court in September 2018 with the court expressing satisfaction over the probe. But in the fresh application, the petitioner demanded revival of the plea alleging that main accused have still not been arrested.
“All-out efforts should be made to arrest the accused within two weeks,” the bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Arun
Palli said giving liberty to the petitioner to approach a trial court. The court, however, refused to revive the petition.
As per the petitioner, the vehicle used in the blasts was assembled in a workshop of the dera in Haryana’s Sirsa and two of those identified as accused were close associates of sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is undergoing a jail term in the neighbouring state in two rape cases. The petitioner has also questioned the role of SIT as it failed to interrogate Ram Rahim in the case.
He has alleged that the blasts were part of a conspiracy to get sympathy votes in the assembly polls. The SIT has concluded the probe and challan was filed in the trial court on January 29 this year.