Sukhbir Badal completes religious penance, prays at Akal Takht

Amritsar: After completing his 'tankhah' (religious punishment), former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday offered prayers at the Akal Takht.

Badal arrived at the Takht at the Golden Temple with his former cabinet colleagues amid tight security. He moved in a wheelchair due to a fracture in his foot. Police had since morning deployed heavy force near the temple complex.

Badal, 62, underwent a religious punishment pronounced on December 2 by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, for "mistakes" made by the Shiromani Akali Dal and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.

On the second day of his penance at the Golden Temple on December 4, Badal had a narrow escape as former Khalistani terrorist Narain Singh Chaura fired at him from a close range but missed the target as he was overpowered by policemen in plain clothes. He was later arrested.

Sukhbir Badal was directed to perform sewa at Guru Ram Dass Langar Hall community kitchen of the Golden Temple by cleaning utensils and shoes of devotees for one hour and listening to the 'kirtan'.

He was also directed to perform the service of 'sewadar' at Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Takht Damdama Sahib, Darbar Sahib at Muktsar, and Fatehgarh Sahib for two days each as part of his religious punishment.

The 'guilty' Akalis were made to wear a plaque with Gurbani's inscription about 'admittance of guilt' around their neck during Sewa.

Sukhbir, and other party leaders, including its working President Balwinder Singh Bhunder and former ministers Gulzar Singh Ranike and Daljit Singh Cheema, performed an 'ardas' of penance and 'bheta', 'degh' of karah prasad was offered as per the directions from the Akal Takht.