Chandigarh, Jan 14 (PTI) In a breakthrough in the probe into the 328 missing ‘saroops’ of the Guru Granth Sahib, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday announced that 169 sacred copies have been recovered by the SIT.
The Special Investigation Team has found 169 missing ‘saroops’ from near Banga in SBS Nagar district (earlier Nawanshahr), he said.
The chief minister also said that “this is not an achievement, but our duty”.
“Of the 169 ‘saroops’ found from a religious place near Banga in Nawanshahr, 139 have no official record. Only 30 ‘saroops’ have a record…,” Mann said.
“Following due ‘maryada’, these ‘saroops’ will be handed over to SGPC as per the directions we get from the Akal Takht,” he said, while addressing a gathering during the Maghi Mela in Muktsar.
He also said there is no record pertaining to 139 ‘saroops’ with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
On Tuesday, the SIT of the Punjab Police had sought records from the SGPC in connection with their probe into the 328 missing ‘saroops’ case.
The SIT on Tuesday formally requested the records from the SGPC offices in both Amritsar and Chandigarh.
On Monday, Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj had directed the SGPC to cooperate with the Punjab government over the issue.
In a statement issued by the Akal Takht secretariat, the Jathedar had said that if the government required any information from the SGPC for investigation, the sought details might be examined at the SGPC’s Chandigarh sub-office in the presence of SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami.
The police had registered a case in Amritsar on December 7 last year against 16 people, including a former SGPC official in connection with the disappearance of ‘saroops’ in 2020.
The FIR had been registered under various 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 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.
Jathedar Gargajj on Monday said that with regard to 328 ‘saroops’, an inquiry commission headed by Ishar Singh was constituted by the Akal Takht Sahib.
The commission’s report clearly states that these sacred ‘saroops’ were given to the ‘sangat’ through the collusion of concerned employees and officials, and the prescribed offerings were neither deposited into the trust funds nor were bills issued. This matter pertains to financial misappropriation by certain corrupt employees, he had said.
The Jathedar had said that the Ishar Singh Commission report, which has been approved by Akal Takht, clearly names 16 accused, who are also held guilty by the Akal Takht.
In light of the orders issued by the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, the SGPC has already taken departmental action against these 16 accused. PTI SUN VSD KVK KVK
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