HSGMC turns tide against Daduwal, family calls it vendetta

The police sought remand from court on the ground that he had pictures of an AK 47 rifle on his laptop and they needed him to recover the weapon from a gurdwara in Gujarat. The remand was, however, declined by the court.

“It was then the turn of Jaurkian police in Mansa to reopen an old case dating back to January 2, 2011, for which they took him on production warrant. It is vendetta,” says Kul Inder Singh Sekhon, Daduwal’s lawyer. The police got three days’ remand and later slapped another case under the Arms Act against him on August 27.

Mansa police also want to investigate transactions worth Rs 4.13 crore in Daduwal’s bank accounts in the last two years. Strangely, they say Daduwal did not pay income tax —- for which the Income Tax Department alone can initiate action.

His supporters allege he is being targeted because Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is miffed over his active role in the formation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC), becoming a member of its ad hoc committee and then participating in the takeover of an SGPC-controlled gurdwara in Gulha Cheeka.

Gurmeet Singh, Daduwal’s father-in-law, said, “They are getting at him for siding with the HSGMC. We cannot do anything against the government. There is no law, might is right. I only say that kings and crowns have tumbled in the past.”

HSGMC senior vice-president Didar Singh Nalwi said the police action was the Akalis’ retaliation for Daduwal’s participation in HSGMC. “It was the biggest jolt to Badal. It is a desperate attempt to get him. It is murder of democracy,” said Nalwi.

Defending reopening of the old cases, Mansa SSP Bhupinder Singh Khattra said, “We had a complaint by several police personnel who had been attacked. We ordered an SIT in January 2011 in the Dera vs Daduwal case and the report held him guilty. We submitted the report in court and got a production warrants for Daduwal.”

The Akalis call Daduwal “opportunistic”, and a man who wants to hog the limelight and has a hidden political agenda. “He is less of a Sant and more of a politician. The Akalis have not done anything to him. How can a religious leader of Punjab, stationed in Punjab, become a member of a Haryana outfit?” asked Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, SAD spokesperson.

Son of an ex-serviceman in Qadian, the 52-year-old Daduwal started off as a religious preacher in February 2005. He was a student at Damdami Taksal, a Sikh seminary with headquarters in Chowk Mehta, 25 km from Amritsar. He shot into prominence for his open tirades against the Dera Sacha Sauda, for which he allegedly got covert support of the Akalis.

Although he set up Jandalisar Sahib Gurdwara in Kotshameer village in Bathinda, where devotees come from far and wide, Daduwal drew his name from a Gurdwara in Dadu village near Kalianwali in Haryana.

“He is a typical case of use and throw by the government. He was propped up when Dera Sacha Sauda led by Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh of Sirsa suddenly became a force to reckon with,” said a political observer.

It was in 2007, when Daduwal opposed the Dera head, allegedly for donning attire similar to Sikh Guru Gobind Singh’s, when he first hit headlines. He allegedly led a jatha of his supporters to attack a cavalcade of the Sacha Sauda chief by pelting stones in July 2007. He was booked for attempt to murder, declared a proclaimed offender only to be arrested on December 7, and sent to judicial custody. Later, he was released.

Sources say he was asked to lie low or become aggressive as and when required. In 2009, he was asked to lie low against the Sacha Sauda as Harsimrat Badal was to contest the Lok Sabha election from Bathinda and the dera vote was a major factor. But he clashed with the dera on March 16, 2009, in Baja Khana in Faridkot and a case of attempt to murder was registered against him. Later, on March 31, it was converted into a case of clash.