Tribune News Service
Faridkot, October 25
The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) on Monday issued a production warrant against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, an accused in the sacrilege case of June 2015.
Order after sit plea
- In its plea, the special investigation team sought the formal arrest of Gurmeet Ram Rahim on the basis of the statement of Pardeep Kumar, an accused in the 2015 sacrilege cases, and corroborating evidence
- In his statement to the SIT, Pardeep had alleged the crime of theft and sacrilege of ‘bir’ in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015, were committed on the directions of the dera chief
The court directed the special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police to bring him from Rohtak’s Sunaria jail where he is lodged after his conviction in three criminal cases and produce him before the court here on October 29.
The order was passed after the SIT approached the court today, seeking the production warrant to make formal his arrest in the sacrilege case and for further legal proceedings.
In the alleged theft of a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015, the police had registered a criminal case. In the beginning, the police had registered a case under Sections 380, 295A, 201, 414, 451 and 120B of the IPC (theft, outraging religious sentiments and causing disappearance of evidence of offence) against unidentified persons on June 2, 2015. But later, 12 persons, including the dera chief, were nominated as accused in the case.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim was nominated as an accused on July 6, 2000, after Pardeep Kumar, a witness in the case, named him. In his statement with the SIT, Pardeep had alleged the crime of theft and sacrilege of ‘bir’ were committed on the directions of the dera chief.
On October 18, the SIT had produced Pardeep Kumar in the court of the CJM for recording his statement. Before the formal nomination of the dera head as an accused in the sacrilege cases, the SIT probing the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing cases had secured the court orders to question Gurmeet Ram Rahim but it could not reach the Sunaria jail in the past two years to do so.
Sacrilege: Faridkot court issues production warrant against dera chief
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