SIT names Ram Rahim as accused in 2015 ‘bir’ theft
FARIDKOT: Jailed Sirsa dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and three others were on Monday named in a 2015 case relating to the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara.
The special investigation team (SIT), headed by Jalandhar Range deputy inspector general of police Ranbir Singh Khatra, filed a chargesheet in the court of duty magistrate Chetan Sharma against 11 persons, including Ram Rahim, three national committee members of dera --- Sandeep Bretta, Pardeep Kler and Harsh Dhuri --- and seven dera followers who were arrested from Faridkot two days ago.
The ‘bir’ was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara on June 1, 2015. An FIR was registered the next day at the Bajakhana police station. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara in the adjoining Bargari village, resulting in an outrage across the state and killing of two Sikh protesters in firing.
“The Dera Sacha Sauda chief was nominated in the FIR as a conspirator. After the interrogation of five dera followers and two other who joined the investigation, it was revealed that the sacrilege was carried out in consultation with Sirsa dera. The orders to steal the ‘bir’ came from the dera,” said Khatra.
The chargesheet now includes IPC sections 295-A (deliberate
and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 380 (theft), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 414 (assisting in concealing stolen property) 451 (trespassing ) and 201(causing disappearance of evidence).
The SIT has also sought arrest warrants of three absconding members of dera’s national committee.
The matter is listed for July 8. As dera chief is lodged in Sunaria jail, the SIT has initiated process to question him.
The Akali-BJP government had handed over the probe into the sacrilege incidents in 2015 to the CBI. The Congress government, led by Captain Amarinder Singh, however, took back the cases from the CBI and asked the SIT to conduct the probe.