The Punjab police have not been able to trace a proclaimed offender in the high-profile Bargari sacrilege case even after he was last month purportedly seen in a Facebook post uploaded by Uttar Pradesh minister Surya Pratap Shahi. Purported pictures of Pardeep Kaler, an important member of the Dera Sirsa administration, that went viral on February 2 showed him taking part, along with the Uttar Pradesh agriculture minister, in an Ayodhya function related to the newly constructed Ram temple. Though the post has disappeared from the minister’s Facebook page, a screenshot shared online purportedly shows him standing near Pardeep Kaler, wanted in Punjab since 2018. “Vedic Caravan Foundation (Saint Shri Jagjit Singh ji, Saint Shri Nirmal Das Ji, Saint Shri Manish Malik ji, Sri Pradeep Kaler ji, Sri Jagtar ji, Sri Jagtar ji, Sri Ram Janmabhoomi temple workshop in Shri Ayodhya Dham today Had the privilege of distributing prasad. In this Bhandara, five thousand Ram devotees are being served free food in the morning and evening,” read the minister's post, which had pictures along with it. Dera Sirsa chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim spends his parole period in Uttar Pradesh, where Kaler was allegedly spotted. The Faridkot police sent a team to Ayodhya to verify the social media claims. “We didn’t talk to the minister. But our team contacted the minister’s team. We couldn’t find the man in the post at the whereabouts given to us by the minister’s team. The man in the pictures could be Pardeep Kaler. But nothing is confirmed yet,” Faridkot SSP Harjeet Singh told The Indian Express. When The Indian Express talked to Nirmal Singh Vaid, who was seen standing next to Kaler in the viral pictures, he said, “I was not aware that he was Pardeep Kaler and wanted in some case in Punjab. The picture was clicked at a langar of Jagtar Singh.” Nirmal Singh, who hails from Jangi Rana in Bathinda, said he did not have Jagtar Singh’s contact number. The police are yet to contact Nirmal Singh. Three national committee members of Dera Sirsa—Harash Dhuri, Pardeep Kaler and Sandeep Bareta—are wanted in sacrilege cases. The police have also named three Dera Sacha Sauda followers—Gurtej Singh, Amrik Singh and Avtar Singh—in connection with the 2017 Maur bomb blast, in which seven people were killed.
