2 yrs on, no closure for Maur blast victims, kin

Tribune News Service
Bathinda, January 31

Two years after an IED blast rocked Maur town, killing seven persons, the kin of those killed are still awaiting closure. Though the police have identified three accused having links with Dera Sacha Sauda, no arrest has been made so far.

Talking to The Tribune, Balbir Singh, who lost his grandson Japsimran Singh (14), said “We haven’t got justice in the last two years. Now, we have lost hope that the guilty will be brought to book.”

He alleged that the investigation into the case had “become a victim of the vote bank politics”. “Though the police have identified three accused in the case, we don’t expect any headway, at least till the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

Balbir said he wondered as to why the police did not get Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on production warrant to probe further into the case. He said, they had even moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking a CBI probe into the case, after having lost faith in the Punjab Police, but the court said it was satisfied with the investigation being conducted by the SIT formed for the case.

Meanwhile, a memorial service was held in the town on Thursday to mark two years of the tragedy. Kin of those killed, along with the Maur Blast Sangarsh Committee members, took part in the prayers.

Maur MLA Jagdev Singh Kamalu and Takht Sri Damdama Sahib’s parallel jathedar Baljit Singh Daduwal also attended the event.

The Bathinda police recently released posters of the accused in the case. These include Gurtej Singh alias Kala of Alike village near Dabwali in Sirsa district of Haryana, Amrik Singh of Bhikhi village in Mansa and Avtar Singh of Messi Majra village near Kurukshetra in Haryana.

In December 2018, the police had started the process of attaching the properties of these three accused. Prior to it, a Talwandi Sabo court had declared them POs as they had failed to join the investigations.

Gurtej Singh Kala was the in charge of a workshop at Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa, where the car used in the blast was allegedly modified. Amrik Singh was a former security guard of the dera chief. Avtar was an electrician who allegedly helped in fixing batteries used in the IED fitted in the car. According to four witnesses, the work of assembling the Maruti car, used in the blast, was undertaken in the presence of Gurtej, while Amrik used to regularly visit the B-workshop (a special workshop used only for modifying the dera chief’s costly cars).