Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal indicted in sacrilege case

Parkash Singh Badal

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has been indicted in the Justice Ranjit Singh (Retired) Commission Report, which was tabled in the Assembly on Monday. Justice Ranjit Singh Commission was formed to probe the 2015 case of Bargari Guru Granth Sahib Sacrilege and Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing that followed it.

A portion of the report, pertaining to the indictment of former Punjab chief minister, reads, 'There is sufficient material available on record in the form of telephone calls between the Deputy Commissioner and Mantar Singh Brar, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) with Gangandeep Brar. It is on record that contact was established with Gagandeep Brar who made the Chief Minister to speak to Mantar Brar. Soon Thereafter Mantar Brar had spoken to DGP Sumedh Singh Saini that too on the asking of Gagandeep Brar. The chain is thus complete and clear that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was not only in touch with district administration but was in touch with DGP as well and was quite aware about the situation developing at Kot Kapura and also about the proposed action by the police.'

The report further states, 'Sufficient material is available with the commission that when the district administration was asked to speak to the then DGP, he (DGP) had stately conveyed in no uncertain terms that they (district MLA including local MLA) should not bother much and that he will get the dharna site cleared within ten minutes.' The Commission's report also mentioned that an opportunity was given to the then chief minister to explain his side about the exact nature of his talks with the District administration and the DGP. He was also given the opportunity to clarify whether any such talk was exchanged or not, however, the chief minister did not co-operate, according to the report.

Citing his alleged non-cooperation, the report reads that 'it would, therefore, be reasonable to infer that the DGP had either discussed or apprised the chief minister about the proposed action in getting the dharna site cleared.' On July 30, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had announced that the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing that followed the Bargari Guru Granth Sahib Sacrilege will be probed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

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