No clean chit to Dera chief Ram Rahim in sacrilege case: Punjab Police

Amid rumors of a clean chit to Ram Rahim in a 2015 case of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, Punjab police issued a clarification

File photo

Chandigarh: The Punjab police on Wednesday trashed reports of giving clean chit to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a 2015 case of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib. Some news media reports alleged that Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota gave a clean chit to Ram Rahim while the latter was heading an SIT to probe into the 2015 sacrilege cases.

Sahota was given the additional charge of the director-general of Punjab Police by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

The incident refers to October 12, 2015 when some torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found at Bargari village in Faridkot district. Following which a case was registered at the Bajakhana police station. A special investigation team headed by Sahota, the then director of the state Bureau of Investigation, was set up to probe into the sacrilege case of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari village in 2015.

At that time, the SAD-BJP alliance was in power.

The official spokesperson of the Punjab police on Wednesday pointed out that the SIT had functioned only for 20 days from October 14, 2015, to November 2, 2015, after which the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"The entire investigation was conducted by the CBI and not the SIT, headed by Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota," said the spokesperson, while adding no clean chit was given to Gurmeet Ram Rahim or any other person.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has resigned as the Punjab Congress chief, on Wednesday raised questions over the appointments of Punjab police chief, state's advocate general and some "tainted" leaders.

The previous SAD-BJP government had handed over the three cases -- the theft of a ''bir'' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib from the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up of handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and the torn pages of the holy book found at Bargari -- to the CBI for the probe.

The Dera Sacha Sauda head was named as an accused in a case that pertains to the theft of a ''bir'' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib from the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala Gurdwara.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his women disciples in his "ashram". He was convicted in August 2017 by a special CBI court in Panchkula.