328 missing saroops case: AAP leader Pannu asks SGPC to cooperate with police

Chandigarh, Jan 2 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party leader Baltej Pannu on Friday asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to cooperate with the police investigation in the 328 missing saroops (sacred copies) of Guru Granth Sahib case.

Lashing out at the SGPC, Pannu said while the apex gurdwara body was attempting to project the investigation as an "interference in Sikh affairs, the entire Sikh community is well aware that the matter reached the Special Investigation Team (SIT) only because of its gravity and SGPC's prolonged failure to act with honesty and transparency".

Pannu said a petition was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and while disposing of the matter, the court categorically ordered that the investigation be conducted by the government.

"Acting on these directions, an FIR was registered, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, and the first arrest has now taken place," he noted.

Appealing to SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, Pannu urged full cooperation with the SIT.

"SGPC must cooperate so that the truth about where the 328 missing saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji are, and who is responsible, comes before the community and the world," he said while speaking to reporters here.

Police on Thursday arrested chartered accountant Satinder Singh Kohli in connection with the case.

Kohli, considered close to Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, was one of the accused in this case.

Kohli's firm had remained an internal auditor of the SGPC. However, its services were terminated in 2020.

The arrest was made nearly three weeks after the police registered a case in Amritsar on December 7 against 16 people, including SGPC's former chief secretary and the CA in connection with the disappearance of saroops in 2020.

The FIR has been registered under sections including 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship or sacred object with intent to insult a religion), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The matter pertaining to the disappearance of saroops from the SGPC's publication house in Amritsar came to light in June 2020, leading to a major controversy at that time.

On December 29 last year, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the FIR was filed after several Sikh bodies demanded a thorough probe to find the missing saroops.

He had also accused the SGPC of failing to find the 328 missing saroops of the Sikh holy book, and accused it of "using the Akal Takht as a shield" to save those who are close to their "masters".

The SGPC had earlier called the FIR registration a direct challenge to the Akal Takht and an unwarranted interference in its administrative rights. PTI CHS SKY SKY