Chandigarh: A Nihang Sikh, who killed a 26-year-old two weeks ago in cold blood — on suspicion that he had committed sacrilege — did it for “publicity and glory”, the police have said.
Preliminary investigation has also suggested there was no evidence of any attempted desecration of the Phagwara gurdwara where the young man was killed.
The accused, Ramandeep Singh or Mangu Math from Ludhiana, has had frequent brushes with the law with at least eight criminal cases previously registered across Punjab.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Kapurthala, Vatsala Gupta, told The Print that the accused has now been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), among other charges.
The victim was identified as Vishal Kapoor, 26, who apparently came to Phagwara to locate a house where he lived as a child with his grandmother. He was allegedly killed by Singh in the early hours of 16 December.
Before murdering Vishal, Singh recorded a video of the victim “confessing” that he had come to the gurdwara on the orders of one Sukhi to commit sacrilege.
After the crime, he posted another video on social media of him admitting to the murder. He then hid in one of the rooms of the gurdwara, refusing to come out till other nihangs came and “feted” him. He was then taken away by the police.
Sources in Phagwara police told ThePrint that Vishal’s parents had separated when he was very young, and that he had been taken in by his father.
His grandmother took care of him after his father died, and once his grandmother passed too, Vishal was left to fend for himself. The family lived in a rented accommodation in Phagwara.
Cops said Vishal was a “simpleton” and needed constant care. After his relatives died, Vishal went to Delhi where he was with a non-governmental organisation for several years.
Vishal, they added, went missing from the NGO a few days ago. It was found that he took shelter in the Chaura Khooh gurdwara in Phagwara, possibly to avoid the cold night.
He was looking for a roof over his head, sources in the police said, adding the accused happened to be in the gurdwara that night. Singh perceived Vishal to be “hiding” in the gurdwara, and beat him up, but not before making him admit on camera that he had come to commit sacrilege.
Cops said Singh had killed the boy before they could even reach the gurdwara. Singh is currently in police remand in the Phagwara City police station, said Station House Officer Gaurv Dhir. He also tested positive for drugs in the medical test after the murder, cops said.
Meanwhile, no one came forward to claim Vishal’s body, and after an intense search, the police could trace a distant relative. The body was handed over for cremation.
Also read: Who are Nihang Sikhs? Sect accused of Sikh man’s ‘sacrilege’ lynching at Singhu
Cases against Singh
The first case dated back to 2012 when Singh was booked under various sections of the Arms Act at Patiala. Three separate cases were registered against him in 2013 in Ludhiana, two related to theft and another under the Arms Act.
Two more were filed against him in 2016 both for acts of violence in Ludhiana.
In 2021, he was booked under the Information Technology Act in Ludhiana, followed by another case in Amritsar last January for violence.
A week before the 16 January murder, Singh or Mangu Math had posted a video on Facebook of him in a verbal spat with the police in Ludhiana’s Akal market.
Also read: Punjab cops arrest Nihang Sikh for killing man who made ‘video confession of intended sacrilege’