Stop SIT probe in sacrilege cases: CBI to Mohali court
CHANDIGARH/JALANDHAR: Two days after a special investigation team named Sirsa dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh as an accused in the 2015 theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib, the CBI on Wednesday moved Mohali court urging it to stop Punjab cops from carrying out “parallel probe” in sacrilege cases.
The CBI plea, filed by the additional superintendent of police Anil Kumar Yadav, claims that the agency is still conducting probe in these cases and there can’t be two simultaneous investigations by two agencies in same cases.
The parallel/simultaneous investigation conducted by the Punjab Police, amounted to violation of established procedure of the law, the plea said.
The special CBI court has issued notice to Punjab and others parties and as per defence counsel Vivek Gulbadhar and the next hearing will take place on July 10.
After outrage over three sacrilege incidents in 2015, the then SAD-BJP government had handed over the probe to the central agency.
On July 4, 2019, the CBI had filed a closure report giving a ‘clean chit’ to some dera followers who were named as sacrilege accused by DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra-led SIT in the chargesheet. Same accused were arrested by Khatra-led SIT few days ago.
“We had filed closure report but on July 29, 2019, the agency got letter a from special DGP, Bureau of Investigation of Punjab Police (Parbodh Kumar was holding this charge that time), in which some fresh leads related to the case shared and he requested the CBI to undertake further investigation,” the CBI plea said.
In pursuant of the said letter, an application was filed in the special CBI court in Mohali on August 26, 2019, to keep the closure report in abeyance till conclusion of further investigation, said the plea.
The court on November 20, 2019, directed the CBI to file the status report of investigation and the same was filed on January 8 this year.
In September 2019, a Punjab government notification withdrew consent to CBI to probe the case. The move was challenged in high court which in December 2019 upheld the state government’s notification.
The agency further challenged the order in SC. The top court in February this year dismissed CBI’s plea against withdrawal of consent by Punjab to probe cases.
In the Wednesday’s application, the CBI claimed that the apex court dismissed its SLP on the ground of delay in filing it but has left the ‘question of law’ open.
The CBI claimed it also challenged apex court’s decision by filing a special leave petition on March 5, 2020, and the same is pending before the SC.
The plea said the CBI has not been denotified by the Government of India from these cases and the notification of empowering the agency to investigate these cases still exists.
“The state of Punjab had requested the Centre on couple of occasions to hand over the investigations of these cases to Punjab. The last such letter was sent by Punjab on May 14 this year and the decision to return these cases is yet to be taken by the CBI. These facts shows that the investigation has not been handed over to Punjab and the cases are still with the CBI,” reads the plea.
AGENCY FILES PLEA IN COURT TWO DAYS AFTER KHATRA-LED SPECIAL INVESTIGATION TEAM NAMED GURMEET RAM RAHIM AS ACCUSED IN 2015 BIR THEFT
FARIDKOT : The special investigation team (SIT) led by deputy inspector general (DIG) Ranbir Singh Khatra probing the 2015 desecration cases in its chargesheet has claimed that it was Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh who ordered to carry out sacrilege at gurdwaras to avenge insult of sect followers by a Sikh preacher.
The SIT chargesheet, submitted in the court of Faridkot judicial magistrate Chetan Sharma, says that some dera followers arrested in connection with sacrilege revealed that Mohinderpal Singh Bittu, who was killed in a Nabha jail in 2019, told them that the sacrilege was executed at the behest of the dera chief.
“During a diwan (religious congregation) in on March 22, 2015, Harjinder Singh Manjhi, a Sikh preacher, asked some dera followers to remove their lockets or leave. Bittu raised the issue with dera’s now absconding national committee members — Sandeep Bareta, Pardeep Kler and Harsh Dhuri — who saw it as an act of sacrilege and decided to take revenge. The sacrilege conspiracy was hatched thereafter,” the document reads.
ARREST WARRANTS AGAINST DERA’S 3 NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
A Faridkot court on Wednesday issued arrest warrants against the three absconding members of the dera’s national committee after the SIT named them as accused in a case of the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in the district.