SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal was questioned for around two hours by the Punjab Police Special Investigation Team probing the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing incident. Badal, who was summoned by the SIT led by Deputy Inspector General (Bathinda range) Harjit Singh, alleged the SIT was formed by the Bhagwant Mann government to fight a political battle. Heavy police deployment was made around the Punjab Police Officers Institute (PPOI) in Sector 32, with Chandigarh Police erecting barricades on roads leading to the venue, where Akali Dal leaders, including former MLA N K Sharma, and party supporters gathered ahead of Badal’s arrival.
Badal was accompanied by party leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Balwinder Singh Bhundar as he left for the PPOI from his Sector 9 residence. Akali supporters, who gathered near the venue, raised slogans in favour of the SAD chief. Badal reached the PPOI venue at around 11:25 am and was questioned for around two hours.
Speaking to reporters after questioning, Badal said it was the fourth time that he was summoned. Whenever I was called, I came because, as the president of the Akali Dal I want the real culprits to be apprehended, Badal said. But here, the SIT has not been formed to catch culprits but to fight a political battle, the SAD president charged.
He said it has been nearly 11 years but the Punjab Police SIT has not been able to complete its investigation. Criticising the AAP government, Badal said, they want to show in the media that Badal has been summoned. It does not matter to me.
Attacking Mann, he claimed that the entire Punjab was against the chief minister and alleged that the AAP had looted the state. It is a drama. Akali Dal is neither scared nor it will bow, he said.
Incidents related to the theft of a bir (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, and torn pages of the holy book scattered at Bargari, occurred in Faridkot in 2015. These incidents led to massive anti-sacrilege protests in Faridkot. In the police firing on the anti-sacrilege protesters in October 2015, two persons – Gurjeet Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh – were killed in Behbal Kalan, while some persons were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot.
The Akali Dal was in power in Punjab at the time, with late Parkash Singh Badal as the chief minister, and his son Sukhbir Badal as his deputy and holding the home portfolio. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is examining the sequence of events leading up to the police action in October 2015, sources had said. Former SAD MLA Mantar Brar had spoken to then-chief minister, then-home minister, and then DGP before the police action against the protesters, sources had said earlier.
The officer on special duty (OSD) to Parkash Singh Badal had said that the order to remove the protesters came during the night, the sources had said. Last month, Punjab AAP leader Baltej Singh Pannu had said that former Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had recorded his statement before the SIT that Badal had admitted responsibility before the highest temporal seat of Sikhs for the firing incident during the previous Akali regime.
