Bargari sacrilege cases: Punjab Police move plea to make Kler approver

The Punjab Police have moved an application in court to make Pardeep Kler, said to be a key conspirator in the Bargari sacrilege cases, an approver. In the application, the police claimed that Kler was willing to depose against the accused. The court adjourned the case until January 9 when it will pronounce its decision on the application.

The police application mentioned that Kler had in 2015 stated before a magistrate that dera head Ram Rahim and Honeypreet had directed late Mohinder Pal Bittu and seven others to desecrate Guru Granth Sahib after a Sikh preacher in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village of Faridkot had reportedly forced many dera followers to snap their links with the dera.

The plea further states that under Section 343 of the Bhartiya Nyayaya Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the accused be made a key prosecution witness in the case.

Kler was arrested by a crime investigation agency (CIA) team of the Faridkot police from Gurugram, Haryana, on February 12 this year. He is presently in the Faridkot police custody. The role of Kler came to fore when a rival faction within Dera Sirsa circulated pictures of him standing alongside the BJP’s agriculture minister in the Uttar Pradesh government during the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple. He had been evading arrest since 2018.

In November 2021, the Punjab Police had issued a look out circular against Kler in connection with the three interlinked sacrilege cases of Faridkot, including Bargari in which dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was named “main conspirator”.

Kler is one of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda national committee members and said to be among the key conspirators in five sacrilege cases of 2015.

Ram Rahim’s virtual appearance in court

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was produced before the local court here via videoconferencing from Sunaria Jail in Rohtak on Thursday in relation to the three interlinked sacrilege cases. The proceedings against the dera chief and others re-started after the Supreme Court in October vacated the March order by the Punjab and Haryana high court that had halted the trial.

In February 2023, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial against Ram Rahim and seven followers in Bargari sacrilege cases from a court in Faridkot to Chandigarh. The move came after Dera follower Pardeep Singh Kataria, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was shot dead on November 10, 2022, and other accused moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case.

The sacrilege incidents started on June 1, 2015, when the ‘bir’ was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara. An FIR was registered the next day at Bajakhana police station. On September 24 and 25, 2015 three derogatory posters threatening sacrilege were pasted at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages following which another FIR was registered. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara in the adjoining Bargari village, resulting in an outrage across the state. Two Sikh protesters were killed in police firing at Kotkapur and Behbal Kalan.

In the final report, the SIT named and presented chargesheets against 12 dera men along with Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim as accused. The SIT has named the dera chief as the main conspirator.

The SIT claimed that it was the dera head who ordered his aides to carry out sacrileges to avenge the insult of sect followers by a Sikh preacher.