Ending 48-hour long impasse after Punjab Government’s assurance of an impartial probe, the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda follower Mohinderpal Bittu, the prime accused of 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was cremated on Monday in the presence of Dera followers.
Bittu was brutally attacked inside the Nabha high security jail on Saturday evening by two inmates, following which he was declared brought dead by the doctors at the Civil Hospital.
The deadlock ended after the Faridkot Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent promised the Dera followers that it would flag the Sect’s demands with the State Government.
Dera’s 45-member executive committee, which had been camping at Kotkapura since Sunday, was demanding a judicial probe into the killing of Bittu and dropping of all criminal charges against all Dera “premis” (followers).
On the assurance of the district administration, the Dera premis' agreed and cremated the body in the evening.
Earlier, the Dera’s executive committee had made it clear that they would not allow Bittu’s cremation unless the State Government agreed to drop the criminal charges against him in the sacrilege cases, besides a judicial probe into his death.
The suspected murder led to outrage among Dera followers, who continued to pour into Kotkapura, Bittu’s hometown, to mount pressure on the authorities to meet their demands. On the other hand, the police maintained that the situation is under control. Flag marches were also conducted by the police in several areas.
“We raised our demands with the government representatives. Our main demand is to drop all false charges framed against my father,” said Bittu’s son Arminder Kumar.
“He is no more in this universe. At least now the stigma labelled against him should be dropped. We will not cremate him until he is freed from this stigma,” his son had said earlier.
Earlier in the day, committee member Harcharan Singh said: “The body will not be cremated until our two demands are accepted by the government. The first is a judicial probe into the killing and the second is dropping of all criminal charges against all Dera followers.”
Bittu, who was wanted in many cases including inciting violence in Haryana’s Panchkula town after the conviction of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in 2017, was arrested by a special investigation team from Himachal Pradesh’s Palampur town last year.
He was considered to be close to Dera chief, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of a journalist, as well as a 20-year sentence for raping two female disciples.
Preliminary investigations said that Bittu was allegedly killed by murder convict Gursewak Singh and Maninder Singh, an under-trial in a murder case, with iron rods removed from a barricade.
Inspector General, Patiala Range, AS Rai said that both the attackers are baptised Sikhs. “They say they attacked Bittu because he is the main accused in the Bargari case.”
Presently, the two attackers are on remand.
SIT TO PROBE ALL ASPECTS OF NABHA JAIL MURDER
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the murder of Bargari sacrilege case’s main accused in the New Nabha prison.
The decision was announced by the Chief Minister at a high-level meeting of top police and administrative officials.
The SIT, to be headed by Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Ishwar Singh, will probe all aspects of the fatal attack on Mahinderpal Bittu, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower who was arrested last year in sacrilege case.
The SIT will ascertain the conspiracy, if any, in the killing of Bittu by prison inmates, besides investigating the role of the prison staff.
Other members of the SIT include Patiala Inspector General Amardeep Rai, Deputy Inspector General (Intelligence) Hardial Mann, Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Mandeep Singh, and Assistant Inspector General (Counter Intelligence) Kashmir Singh.
Taking a serious view of the incident, the Chief Minister has directed the Jail Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and ADGP (Prisons) Rohit Chaudhary to take all necessary steps to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.
Such brazen violation of law and order, and laxity in prison security will not be tolerated, he warned.
Immediately after the murder of Bittu in jail, the Chief Minister had made it clear that the culprits would have to face stringent punishment. Security in the State has been beefed up following the incident and all steps are being taken to check the spread of disinformation and rumour-mongering.
The Chief Minister has ordered the security agencies to take all possible measures to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state.
Initial investigations had revealed that 49-year-old Bittu, a resident of Faridkot, was attacked by Gursewak Singh of Mohali, and Maninder Singh of Fatehgarh Sahib, who were in jail in a murder case.
AAP DEMANDS TIME-BOUND PROBE
Describing ‘dera premi’ Mohinderpal Bittu’s death as “deep conspiracy”, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded a time-bound probe into the mysterious ‘death’ of the accused in Nabha jail by a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
AAP leaders, including Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, Leader of the Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema, MLA Aman Arora (MLA) and senior leader Harchand Singh Barsat, also appealed to the people of Punjab to help maintain peace and mutually harmony in the State.
In a joint statement, AAP leaders said that the alleged ‘murder’ of the key accused in the Nabha jail, which is considered to be safest among the jails in the state, was not a normal happening.