2015 Sacrilege case: Navjot Sidhu as 'guilty' as Punjab CM, says SAD

Chandigarh, May 10 (PTI) The SAD on Monday said it held former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu as "guilty" as Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for allegedly failing to arrest and convict those guilty for the 2015 sacrilege incidents.

Sidhu has been attacking his own party's government over the alleged delay in delivering justice in desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and post sacrilege police firing incidents in 2015 in Kotkapura in Faridkot.

The Congress leader once again hit out at the chief minister on the issue on Monday , saying the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order to form a new SIT to probe the incident was accepted by the state government to “deflect” people's attention.

“Both the leaders are playing politics on this issue instead of fulfilling their commitment to ensure justice in the case,” said senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and MP Balwinder Singh Bhundur.

It was shocking that after four years in governance, Sidhu was raising the sacrilege issue solely to “snatch” the chief minister's chair from Amarinder Singh, he alleged in a statement issued here.

“Navjot Sidhu has never done anything in the last four years to secure justice in the sacrilege cases and remained busy in his self- styled Indo-Pak friendship initiative. Had he worked as assiduously as he is doing now to bring down Amarinder, the sacrilege case would have been solved till now,” he said.

The Congress had in the run-up to the 2017 assembly polls, promised to take strict action against perpetrators of the 2015 sacrilege and subsequent police firing incidents.

Claiming that securing justice for the reprehensible acts of sacrilege was furthest from Sidhu's mind, Bhundur said the Congress leader was holding meetings of ministers and legislators not to discuss the sacrilege case but to turn the Congress leaders against Amarinder Singh.

“Sidhu also knows that people will ask him in 2022 (when Punjab elections are slated to take place) as to why he did not do anything to secure justice in the case despite representing the holy city (Amritsar) in the Vidhan Sabha and this is why he is raising the issue of sacrilege to escape the wrath of the people”, he alleged.

The officers of the new Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to probe the 2015 Kotkapura firing incident, held a maiden meeting in Mohali to discuss the modalities for conducting thorough investigations.

Besides this, the SIT has already held different meetings with the officers and officials of police and legal departments in this regard, according to an official release.

With a view to collect more relevant evidence and information from stakeholders, if not submitted earlier, and suggestions from any quarters, the SIT has provided an email and a dedicated WhatsApp number to the public to furnish details or documents, if anyone desires, so that a free and fair probe could be conducted in an effective and efficient manner, it said.

Acting on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High court, the Punjab government constituted the new three-member special investigation team (SIT) and directed it to complete the investigations into the Kotkapura firing incident, preferably in six months.

The new SIT comprises ADGP (Vigilance Bureau) L K Yadav, Commissioner of Police Ludhiana Rakesh Agarwal and DIG (Faridkot Range) Surjit Singh. PTI CHS VSD ANB ANB