Kapurthala lynching: Gurdwara caretaker arrested, charged with murder

Soon after Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday said that there was no evidence of the alleged sacrilege in the Kapurthala incident, police have filed a case of murder against those who were involved and arrested the Gurdwara caretaker.

Chandigarh (Punjab):Soon after Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday said that there was no evidence of the alleged sacrilege in the Kapurthala incident, police have filed a case of murder against those who were involved and arrested the Gurdwara caretaker.

"In Kapurthala (killing of a man for alleged sacrilege), no evidence that sacrilege was done. The matter is being probed and the FIR will be amended to a murder case," Channi told reporters during a press conference.

The FIR mentions around 100 unidentified persons. Amarjit Singh, the caretaker of the Gurdwara, has been arrested and charged with murder.

On December 19, a man was lynched in Nizampur village of Kapurthala district after the allegations that he had committed the sacrilege of Nishan Sahib.

Police in Kapurthala had confirmed that no 'sacrilege' took place and the man who was beaten to death was probably trying to 'steal'.

The incident happened a day after a similar one in the Golden Temple in which a man was killed when he attempted to desecrate Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs, after barging into the sanctum sanctorum.

Interestingly, the two dead have not been identified so far.