AAP govt revamps 2015 sacrilege SIT, names Bathinda DIG chief | Chandigarh News
CHANDIGARH: The AAP govt has reconstituted the special investigation team (SIT) probing the three interlinked sacrilege cases of 2015, appointing Bathinda range DIG Harjeet Singh as its chairman.Punjab Bureau of Investigation’s June 1 orders also named Malerkotla SSP Gurmeet Singh, Amritsar ADCP (special branch) Harpal Singh and Sangrur (rural) DSP Dalbir Singh as members. The order directed the team to expeditiously complete the investigation.The move came just days before Harjeet Singh was also nominated as a member of a separate SIT probing the Oct 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing cases. On June 10, a day after joining the firing probe team, Harjeet Singh recorded the statement of former Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh. The statement related to the “admission of guilt” by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. He had appeared before the Akal Takht on Dec 2, 2024, and tendered an unconditional apology for “all mistakes committed by the party and its govt”.The Akak Takht had then pronounced tankhah (religious punishment) on him to atone for “mistakes and religious misconduct”. The firing cases SIT then summoned former Punjab BJP president Vijay Sampla, retired IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Brar (then special principal secretary to CM Parkash Singh Badal), and retired IAS officer Malwinder Singh Jaggi (then Faridkot deputy commissioner) to appear before it in Jalandhar on Monday. The three sacrilege FIRs stem from 2015 incidents, the theft of a bir of the Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in Faridkot district in June; the appearance of derogatory and provocative posters in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages in Sept; and the Bargari sacrilege incident in Oct, where torn pages (angs) of the holy book were found strewn near a gurdwara. The sacrilege SIT has undergone multiple leadership changes over the years. Then Ludhiana Range IG SP S Parmar (now ADGP, law and order) was appointed to head the team in 2021. Parmar sought to be relieved in March 2025 after being posted as chief director of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau. He had originally replaced DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra, who led the SIT set up by the Capt Amarinder Singh’s Congress govt after Punjab reclaimed the probe from the CBI. The 2021 reconstitution followed Punjab and Haryana high court directions on a petition filed by an accused Dera follower. The court clarified that it was not setting aside the investigation already conducted by Khatra’s team. Earlier, in 2015, an SIT headed by Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota was formed to probe the incidents before the then SAD-BJP govt handed the sacrilege cases over to the CBI. During the investigation, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, currently jailed for other offences, was named as a key conspirator and several dera functionaries were arrested. All arrested accused are currently out on bail. More than a decade after the incidents, the cases have yet to enter an effective trial. While investigators have filed nine chargesheets (three for each case), courts have not yet framed charges. In 2023, the Supreme Court transferred the trials from Faridkot to Chandigarh due to security concerns raised by dera followers after an accused follower was killed. While the Supreme Court vacated a brief high court stay on Ram Rahim’s proceedings in late 2024, it then ordered a fresh stay on trial court proceedings on April 29, 2025, pending further orders, as the dera chief challenged the legal validity of the Punjab govt’s decision to withdraw the cases from the CBI.
