Bargari sacrilege: SIT searches drain for missing pages of ‘bir’

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 16

The special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police probing the three-year-old sacrilege incidents on Saturday morning pressed into service many sewer suction machines and JCBs to empty a drain of solid waste in Kotkapura.

The SIT was searching for some pages of a “bir” of Guru Granth Sahib which was stolen from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015.

Some pages of the “bir” were found scattered around a gurdwara at Bargari village on October 12, 2015, triggering a statewide outrage that time. The remaining portion of the “bir” was dumped into the drain, believed Ranbir Singh Khatra, DIG, and head of the SIT.

However, the police found no evidence of the remaining portion of the “bir” after over five hours of the search operation in the drain.

Khatra said the search was necessary for a clearer idea of where the investigation was going.

Khatra declared that Mohinderpal Bittu, a state committee member of the Dera Sacha Sauda, was the main conspirator, planner and executor of the sacrilege incidents. Bittu, a Kotkapura resident, was arrested from Palampur in HP on June 7.

“Besides Bittu, six other dera followers have been arrested for their involvement in the sacrilege incidents. Bittu has confessed that he committed the crime,” said Khatra.

First he misled the SIT, telling the “bir” was stored at a dera in Kotkapura, then said it was dumped into the Rajasthan Canal and now he told us that it was thrown into the drain, situated on the Deviwala road in Kotkapura, said Khatra.

Though there was little chance of founding any remnants of the “bir” after three years, the SIT could not take a risk. With the help of municipal and sewerage board employees, the police conducted the search operation and many JCBs and sewer suction machines were pressed into service to empty the drain of solid waste, he said.

Refuting the allegations of those protesting at Bargari, Khatsa said, “As the CBI is probing the case, we are sharing all details with it and investigation in the case will be completed soon.”