‘Granthi’ in Adampur sacrilege ‘wanted to defame girlfriend’

DISGRACE Police say main accused Avtar Singh Tari was on drug during incident; attempt-to-murder case registered for assault on SGPC member in violence that followed

JALANDHAR: Breaking their silence over the outcome of investigation into the October 25 sacrilege incident at Ghurail village near Adampur, the rural police of this district on Thursday ruled out any conspiracy behind the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Gurdwara Harsar.

The police said the main accused, ‘granthi’ (priest) Avtar Singh Tari (58), had torn pages from a copy of the Sikh holy book under the influence of marijuana to get into negative limelight for defaming his married girlfriend who had spurned him. “The woman, who was calling him up then, is much younger to him at 23, and she is from a nearby village and not Ludhiana as reported on October 25. Tari is in an affair with her for the past three years,” superintendent of police (investigations) HPS Khakh told the media.

“After she declined to elope with him, the priest took the drug under frustration and, on that day, was unable to speak clearly. The woman has two children from her marriage with an NRI, and they were on the telephone for 21 minutes leading up to the desecration incident,” the officer claimed.

Deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Arun Pal Singh, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harmohan Singh Sandhu, and the SP, who have interrogated the accused over the past three days at the crime investigation agency (CIA) centre here, have ruled out the involvement of the woman after technical examination of the mobile handsets but would now put the priest under the lie-detector and brain-mapping tests at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) laboratory.

On October 25, after 14 pages from a copy of the Sikh holy book were torn at the Ghurail gurdwara, Sikh protesters, including members of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), beat up local Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member and senior Akali leader Paramjeet Singh Raipur; and also roughed up Adampur deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Nirlep Singh. An attempt to murder case against unknown protesters has been registered on the statement of injured Raipur. The police will scan the video clips of the incident and the pictures circulated on the social media to identify the culprits.

The Ghurail panchayat and the Harsar gurdwara committee have said they have faith in police investigation.

After she declined to elope with him, the priest took the drug under frustration and, on that day, was unable to speak clearly. The woman has two children from her marriage, and they spoke over the phone for 21 minutes leading up to the desecration incident.

HPS KHAKH, superintendent of police (investigations)