SIT arrests three more dera men for Bathinda village sacrilege

FARIDKOT: A day after a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, Jatinderbir Arora, was arrested, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sacrilege cases made three more arrests on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Sukhmander Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Daljit Singh, residents of Bhagta Bhai Ka village in Bathinda district. The fresh arrests have been made with regard to the sacrilege incident at Gurusar Bhagta village.

SIT chief deputy inspector general Ranbir Singh Khatra confirmed the development, adding that the accused will be produced in court on Saturday.

The SIT has made breakthrough in sacrilege cases that took place at Bargari (Faridkot), Mal Ke (Moga) and Gurusar Bhagta (Bathinda). It has emerged during the investigation that all the prime accused arrested in the cases were part of the 45-member state committee of Dera Sacha Sauda.

Earlier, Mohinder Pal Bittu of Kotkapura was arrested in June this year for Bargari sacrilege, while Pirthi Singh of Baghapurana in Moga was arrested for sacrilege at Mal Ke village in November 2015. Both were members of the said committee, which is dera’s decision-making body in Punjab.

The pages of Guru Granth Sahib found scattered at Gurusar village were from the holy book stolen from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in Faridkot in June 2015. The SIT is investigating two cases of sacrilege — at Mal Ke village in Moga district in November 2015 and the other one at Gurusar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October the same year.

ACCUSED ARE DALJIT SINGH, SUKHMANDER SINGH AND KULDEEP SINGH, ALL RESIDENTS OF BHAGTA BHAI KA VILLAGE IN BATHINDA \