Kapurthala gurdwara clash: SAD urges Punjab Governor to recommend CBI probe

Later talking to the reporters, Badal alleged that the Kapurthala police “entered Gurdwara Akal Bunga Sahib premises in full combat uniform with assault rifles and indulged in wanton firing”. He said that “evidence in this regard had been submitted to the Governor”.

“The armed attack on the peaceful sangat at 4 am (on November 23) when it was reciting gurbani has reminded the Sikhs of a similar attack on Sri Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar in 1984. The Sikhs worldwide are outraged and they are now seeking justice for this heinous act,” Badal said.

The senior Akali leader alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had ordered the Kapurthala police “to remove one faction of Nihang Singhs from the gurdwara to facilitate a takeover by his (CM’s) close friend and head of a rival faction of Nihang Singhs”.

“The CM then formed an SIT to probe the incident. The SIT is headed by the same police officer who had carried out the orders of the CM,” Badal added.

He said only a CBI probe could lay bare the entire conspiracy and registration of a “murder case as well as that for hurting religious sentiments against the CM as well as the police officers responsible for this ghastly incident”.

He claimed that the “attack was perpetrated despite the fact that there was no breakdown in the law and order situation”. He said that “attack was perpetrated” when Sikhs were in the process of commemorating the Parkash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev in the historical town associated with him.

A home guard jawan was killed while four policemen suffered injuries when a group of Nihangs resorted to ‘unprovoked’ firing at them at Gurdwara Akal Bunga Sahib in Kapurthala on November 23.

The incident took place when the policemen tried to get the gurdwara vacated from a faction of Nihangs.