Sikh hardliners, including Dal Khalsa, on Monday slammed Punjab Government for recommending CBI probe into Faridkot ‘bir’ sacrilege incident.
They have also questioned the state Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s claims that the case had been cracked with the arrest of two brothers.
It was strange that the Deputy Chief Minister had recently announced that the initial probe suggested foreign links, said Dal Khalsa general secretary Kanwarpal Singh.
Police had arrested two brothers — Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh — sometime back, with the state government claiming that they were responsible for the sacrilege and had committed the crime on the orders of “foreign handlers” in Dubai and Australia, with foreign funding.
“People now have a right to ask whether that was a concocted story because if the investigation was conclusive, there would have been no need to refer it to the CBI,” said Kanwarpal Singh.
United Akali Dal (UAD) convenor Mohkam Singh described the Government’s recommendation for CBI probe as a “clever ploy”.
UAD and Dal Khalsa said that the Government step was part of “diversionary tactics to hoodwink the people”.
Mohkam demanded immediate and unconditional release of Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh, brothers from Panjgrain village in Moga who were arrested in connection with sacrilege incident at Bargari, the first to take place in the state. Punjab Government had on Sunday recommended CBI probe into the incident of sacrilege of the holy book at Faridkot which later triggered widespread protests in the State.