He came with letter, sought narco test on former CM, son

Himmat came on his own to commission office last year with a sixpage letter in Punjabi. I did not record his statement. He asked me to admit it as his affidavit and I annexed it to the report. JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH (RETD) HIMMAT, AN EXGRANTHI OF THE AKAL TAKHT, HAD ALSO ACCUSED BADALS OF PARDONING THE DERA HEAD IN HIS RESIGNATION LAST YEAR

CHANDIGARH: Justice Ranjit Singh on Monday rubbished the charges of Himmat Singh saying he did not summon him and the latter came voluntarily.

“He came on his own to the commission’s office last year with a six-page letter written in Punjabi. I did not record his statement. He himself asked me to admit it as his affidavit and I annexed it to the report,” Justice Ranjit Singh told Hindustan Times.

The letter detailed how Akal Takht jathedars were called to Badal’s residence in Chandigarh and forced to grant the pardon. He said his brother opposed the grant of pardon saying it was being arranged to fulfill the dream of Sukhbir for ruling the state for 25 years,” Justice Ranjit said.

He also stated that Himmat had also annexed four documents to his written statement, including sect head’s apology letter, edict of the Akal Takht dated September 24, 2015, pardoning him and the October 16, 2015 edict of the Takht revoking the pardon.

The fourth document listed the expenses incurred by the Takht in advertising the pardon at ₹33 lakh. The testimony of Himmat also said Sukhbir spoke to him on a number of occasions.

“I have not produced the entire content of Himmat letter in the report. He had also sought the narco test of Badal, Sukhbir and Akal Takht jathedar, and had linked the pardon to sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing at protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan,” Justice Ranjit Singh added.

The panel head pointed out that the commission has also taken on record the statement of Himmat’s brother Gurmukh Singh which is available on Youtube. “Gurmukh’s statement corroborates what Himmat’s

HAD HIMSELF WARNED TO MOVE THE PANEL

Notably, after Gurmukh’s statements went viral on social media, he was removed as the jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib and moved to a gurdwara in Jind, Haryana, in April last year. In October, Himmat too was transferred from a granthi of the Golden Temple in Amritsar to the same gurdwara in Jind.

He had then shot off a resignation letter to the then SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar, saying he was being ‘harassed and victimised’ due to his kinship with Gurmukh.

The letter said, “The conflict of my brother with the Badal family started when the Sirsabased dera extended support to the SAD in the 2017 assembly polls in Punjab. Then, he decided to speak the truth on the dera pardon.”

While disclosing contents of his letter, Himmat had told this newspaper that he will go to Justice Ranjit Singh panel.