Punjab Police didn’t question me about Maur blast case or Sukhbir Singh Badal: Bargari sacrilege accused Pardeep Kaler

In a post on X, Sukhbir Singh Badal pointed fingers at the ruling AAP, saying Kaler is “being protected and promoted so as to serve political interests of @AamAadmiParty and other Panth Virodhi parties has both shocked and pained me”. “Pardeep’s baseless and politically motivated allegations against me are absolutely false, politically motivated and totally unacceptable. I strongly object to these false and malicious claims,” said Badal.

“As Sri Akal Takht Sahib is already seized of this matter and I have already submitted myself before the highest religio-temporal seat of the Khalsa Panth, I will await their verdict and thereafter take strong action against this sinner,” he added.

Kaler’s claims have come at a time when Sukhbir Singh Badal is awaiting the Akal Takht to decide on allegations that he arranged for a pardon for Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2015 when Sikhs had accused the sect for the theft of the bir or a physical copy of the Guru Granth Sahib.

‘Don’t know anything about the Maur blast’

Kaler was among the high-profile office bearers of Dera Sirsa when the Maur blast took place in 2017. Later, the Punjab Police found that the car used in the blast was assembled inside the premises of the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

“I don’t know anything about the Maur blast. I was mostly looking after Dera affairs in Delhi. I was stationed in Delhi. I came to know about the link of the Maur blast with Dera people later, that one Avtar Singh, who used to assist in blast scenes in the movies of Dera Sirsa’s head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, was also accused in the Maur Blast case,” Kaler told The Indian Express.

During his detention, the Punjab Police never asked him about the Maur blast, he said. “I was not questioned on the Maur blast during the investigation,” Kaler told The Indian Express.

Also, the Punjab Police are yet to question Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the Maur blast case.

When Kaler was in the custody of the Punjab Police in March earlier this year, the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami released a statement to the state government saying Kaler should also be investigated in connection with the Maur bomb blast case, in which seven people including five children were killed, as he was the leader of the political wing of Dera Sacha Sauda.

‘Sukhbir Badal and Gurmeet Ram Rahim reached a compromise’

Kaler has also been accusing Sukhbir Singh Badal of approaching Dera Sirsa head Gurmeet Ram Rahim to secure the votes of Dera followers despite the excommunication of the sect from Sri Akal Takht Sahib. Kaler has claimed that Badal went to meet Gurmeet Ram Rahim before the 2012 and 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. He said Badal also assured Ram Rahim of securing a pardon from Akal Takht and lifting the ban on the release of his movies in Punjab.

“The Punjab Police had also given security to the Dera head. One of the vehicles given to Dera head was issued in the name of Harsh Dhuri,” said Kaler. Harsh Dhuri is also accused in the sacrilege case and is still on the run.

“The Akali Dal and Dera heads reached a compromise before the 2009 Parliament elections. The case registered against the Dera head for hurting Sikh feelings in 2007 was also eventually withdrawn under this compromise. The relations between the Akali government and Dera were great. Dera followers were also given tubewell connections somewhere in 2016,” said Kaler.

Kaler also said the Punjab Police didn’t question him about the alleged role of Sukhbir Singh Badal in the events related to the Bargari sacrilege case. “As far as I know, Kunwar Vijay Partap had brought up the link between Sukhbir Singh Badal and Dera head in the police firing case. I was arrested in the sacrilege case. Both are different cases,” said Kaler.

Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Kunwar Vijay Partap resigned after his report on the Kotakpura police firing case, related to sacrilege, was quashed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2021. He later joined the Aam Aadmi Party.

In 2022, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann released a report on the sacrilege incidents in Punjab —which did not mention Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Akali Dal termed that report as a ‘clean chit’ to the party and its leadership in the sacrilege incidents. Meanwhile, the Punjab government is yet to allow Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s prosecution in the sacrilege incident-related cases.