Chandigarh: The Punjab Police SIT probing the 2015 desecration cases on Friday filed its first charge sheet before a Faridkot court. Inspector General of Police S P S Parmar, who is heading the Special Investigation Team, said the challan has been presented against six accused in a case of the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. Torn pages of the holy book were found at Bargari in Faridkot district on October 12, 2015. The court has fixed July 20 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
All six accused have already been arrested by the SIT, said Parmar. Those arrested have been identified as Sukhjinder Singh, alias Sunny; Shakti Singh; Ranjit Singh, alias Bhola; Baljit Singh; Nishan Singh and Pardeep Singh, an official spokesperson said. A case under different sections of the IPC was registered on October 12, 2015 at the Bajakhana police station on the statement of the manager of the Bargari gurdwara, Kulwinder Singh.
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In February this year, the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court handed over the documents and files related to the 2015 incidents to the Punjab Police SIT. The previous SAD-BJP government had handed over the three cases -- theft of a 'bir' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib from a Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara; putting up of handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala; and torn pages of the holy book found at Bargari--to the CBI for probe. The Punjab government had handed over the probe to an SIT of the state police in September 2018 after the state Assembly passed a resolution withdrawing consent to the CBI to investigate these cases, noting lack of progress in the investigation.
PTI
