SIT questions Akshay Kumar, says satisfied with answers

CHANDIGARH: Superstar Akshay Kumar was questioned by a Punjab Police Special Investigation Team on Wednesday in an alleged deal mediated by him between jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, police sources said.

Inspector General (IG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap, who questioned the actor at the Punjab Police headquarters for nearly 35 minutes along with other SIT members, told media that the SIT was “satisfied” with the Akshay’s answers.

“We asked him many questions. He was summoned as there was a chain of events that led to the sacrilege cases and the firing incidents in 2015. We wanted to ask him about those events. He gave answers to all our questions. We are satisfied with his answers,” the IG told a news channel.

The questioning of the actor was video-recorded.

Akshay, who landed at the Chandigarh international airport on a chartered flight from Mumbai earlier in the day, drove to the high-security state police headquarters in Sector 9 in Chandigarh and appeared for questioning.

He remained inside the headquarters for almost two hours. When the questioning ended, Akshay was taken away in his vehicle through a side gate of the police premises to help him avoid the waiting media.

The SIT grilled Akshay about the alleged deal, his relationship with the sect leader and Badal. He was also asked if the Dera leader lived in the same locality (society) in Mumbai as his, police sources said.

The actor termed the linking of his name to the entire controversy around the sacrilege cases and the subsequent firing incidents as unwarranted. He maintained that the allegations against him were baseless.