SIT tightens noose around Jr Badal, SAD moves ECI

As the special investigation team (SIT) tightens the noose around former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Badal for incidents surrounding sacrilege in Punjab in 2015, the Akali Dal on Tuesday approached the ECI for strict action against SIT member, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh.

The SIT probing desecration of the Sikh holy books and subsequent police firing on Sikhs protesting sacrilege in 2015, in its charge sheet produced in the court had recently claimed that 2015 sacrilege incidents ‘were handiwork of Sukhbir Badal, the then DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and the Sirsa based Dera Sacha Sauda’.

The IGP has also named Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar in the entire controversy. The SIT report signed by the IGP has stated that Akshay Kumar had arranged a meeting between Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (now in jail for rape and murder) and Sukhbir Badal during the latter’s visit to Mumbai in September 2015.

Sukhbir is also the President of the Akali Dal. “The negotiations between Sukhbir Badal and Dera head was not without reason. His (Akshay) own movie ‘Singh is Bling’ was questioned by the Sikh masses on the point of hurting sentiments of the Sikh community. The movie of Akshay Kumar was also given a go-ahead and was released on October 2, 2015, one week before the Dera chief movie MSG-2 was released,” reads the report.

The actor has denied the charges levelled against him saying he never met the Dera chief. The SIT has maintained that Sukhbir Badal’s plea that he was not in Punjab when incident of police firing took place on October 14, killing two Sikhs was only an alibi. IGP Singh was transferred by the ECI during elections on a complaint by the Akali Dal. But the IGP signed the charge sheet during the period of model code of conduct, it is alleged.

The SIT chief and other members of the probe team have also expressed their disapproval in the manner IGP Singh was working. The SAD on Tuesday accused the IGP of violation of the orders of the ECI.