2015 sacrilege case: Punjab Police seeks to make accused Pardeep Kaler an approver
During Thursday’s hearing, Gurmeet Ram Rahim appeared via video conferencing, while other accused, Sukhjinder Singh, Ranjit Singh, and Shakti Singh, who are out on bail, were present in court.
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According to the police, Kaler has voluntarily consented to become an approver in the case. Kaler, a proclaimed offender in the high-profile case, was apprehended in February this year from Gurugram after evading arrest since 2018.
The Punjab Police on Thursday filed an application in the Chandigarh District Court seeking to make one of the accused, Pardeep Kaler, an approver in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case.
The application was submitted before Chief Judicial Magistrate Sachin Yadav in connection with FIR No. 63, registered at Police Station Bajakhana, Faridkot. The case pertains to the sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib. The court has scheduled the hearing for January 9, 2025.
According to the police, Kaler has voluntarily consented to become an approver in the case. Kaler, a proclaimed offender in the high-profile case, was apprehended in February this year from Gurugram after evading arrest since 2018.
Once a member of the decision-making body of Dera Sirsa, Kaler had been charge-sheeted in FIR No. 63, which relates to the theft of a Guru Granth Sahib bir from Gurdwara Jawahar Singh Wala in Faridkot district in June 2015.
Trial proceedings against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and other accused in the 2015 sacrilege cases resumed in the Chandigarh District Court in November. During Thursday’s hearing, Gurmeet Ram Rahim appeared via video conferencing, while other accused, Sukhjinder Singh, Ranjit Singh, and Shakti Singh, who are out on bail, were present in court.
The counsels for Gurmeet Ram Rahim requested the court to direct the State to provide deficient documents, a request that the court granted.
In March, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed trial proceedings against Gurmeet Ram Rahim in sacrilege cases registered under FIR Nos. 63, 117, and 128 of 2015. The Punjab government later challenged the stay in the Supreme Court.
In February 2023, the Supreme Court transferred the trial from Faridkot to Chandigarh, citing security concerns raised by the accused. The three interlinked sacrilege cases include the theft of a Guru Granth Sahib bir from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015, the display of objectionable posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 25, 2015, and the recovery of torn pages from the stolen bir near a gurdwara in Bargari on October 12, 2015.
Ram Rahim has been named the primary conspirator in the sacrilege cases by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police.
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