Amid row over missing 'saroops', SAD chief dares Punjab DGP to file FIR against him

Chandigarh, Feb 5 (PTI) SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday dared the Punjab DGP to lodge an FIR against him as he accused the Bhagwant Mann government of misusing police to target the party leadership under the garb of ongoing investigation into the missing 'saroops' (sacred copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib case.

SAD's core committee members led by Badal on Thursday reached the office of Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav here and expressed their displeasure for allegedly harassing party leaders and workers.

They went to the DGP office immediately after holding the party's core committee meeting here.

As the senior leaders of the party were meeting the DGP, several party workers gathered outside the Punjab Police headquarters and raised slogans against the AAP government.

The Chandigarh Police deployed personnel outside the Punjab Police headquarters in the wake of a gathering of Akali leaders and workers.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the DGP, Badal accused the AAP government of misusing police to register false cases against Akali workers.

He said the police job was to maintain law and order, take action against gangsters but the government here turned it into its "private army" for registering false cases and arresting anyone whom it wants.

Badal alleged that the AAP government is using the ongoing investigation into the 328 missing 'saroops' (sacred copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib matter to "target" the Akali leadership.

"They are not probing the 'saroops' matter. They are targeting how to arrest Sukhbir Badal," alleged the SAD chief.

He claimed that a special investigation team probing the missing 'saroops' case raided the premises of his chartered accountant in Ludhiana who has no connection with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

They took away the balance sheets of my companies, he claimed.

"Therefore, we today decided that we should go directly to the DGP office and dare him to lodge an FIR...I dared him to lodge an FIR against me, and bring a search warrant. Had I run away anywhere," he said.

"Everything is legal," Badal said while speaking about his businesses.

"They think they can scare us. SAD is not afraid of anyone," he said.

Earlier, Badal alleged that police were harassing his accountants and their families even as they have no connection with the SGPC.

The Amritsar police had registered a case on December 7 last year against 16 people, including a former SGPC official in connection with the disappearance of 'saroops'.

The police had arrested chartered accountant Satinder Singh Kohli in connection with the case.

Kohli, considered close to SAD president Badal, is 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 FIR had been registered under sections 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 regarding 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. PTI CHS KVK KVK