Bid to implicate me, claims Dalip Singh

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 9

Followers of Thakur Dalip Singh, elder brother of the head of Namdhari sect Satguru Uday Singh, organised the “bhog” of an “akhand path” in memory of Mata Chand Kaur amid tension at Jiwan Nagar in Sirsa today.

Addressing the media after the programme, Thakur Dalip Singh broke down and rejected the allegations against him. He instead alleged the charges were levelled against him by those who could be behind the murder.

Thakur Dalip Singh said he never wished to head the sect, so there was no question of his involvement. “Rather her death has cleared the way for my brother because Mata Chand Kaur was in favour of handing over the ‘gaddi’ to me,” he claimed.

“How can I kill my mother under whose patronage I spent 50 years of my life?” Dalip Singh said as he turned emotional.

He said he was abroad for long and had returned a few days ago. He said: “I decided to hold ‘antim ardaas’ in Jiwan Nagar because I was not allowed to meet Mata Chand Kaur after Satguru Jagjit Singh’s death. Ever after her murder, I was not allowed to have her ‘darshan’.”

A heavy police force was present at Jiwan Nagar in view of the opposition to the function by followers of Satguru Uday Singh, who had met the district authorities yesterday seeking a ban on the programme.

Though Deputy Commissioner Sharandeep Kaur Brar refused to ban the programme, she had ordered tight security and issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in the vicinity of Jiwan Nagar Gurdwara.

Political leaders from Sirsa and Rania chose to skip the function in view of the controversy over the murder. Followers of Satguru Uday Singh assembled at nearby Mastangarh gurdwara of the sect. No untoward incident was reported.

Mata Chand Kaur was shot dead by two unidentified youths on April 4.