On run for 5 years, Bargari sacrilege key accused arrested from Bengaluru airport

Sandeep Bareta, one of the three absconding Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda national committee members who are key conspirators in five sacrilege cases of 2015, was arrested from Bengaluru airport when he was trying to flee to Singapore.

Punjab Police had issued a look out circular (LOC) against Bareta in three interlinked sacrilege cases of Faridkot, including Bargari in which dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been named as the main conspirator, in November 2021.

Also read: Sacrilege cases: Punjab and Haryana HC issues notice on plea from Gurmeet Ram Rahim

An official privy to the development said that Bareta, who was on the run for five years, was detained at Bengaluru airport on Monday night when he was attempting to board a Singapore-bound flight of Singapore Airlines.

Faridkot inspector general of police Pardeep Kumar Yadav said a police team has been sent to Bengaluru to take custody of the accused. “He is accused in five cases of sacrilege,” he said.

To be in Faridkot by Wednesday

ADGP Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, who heads the Punjab Police special investigation teams (SIT) probing the three interlinked sacrilege cases of Faridkot, said: “At present, Bareta is in the custody of Bengaluru police. Following procedures, he will be brought to Faridkot on transit remand by Wednesday evening and will be presented in a local court. We will interrogate him and track down the two others absconding dera national committee members. In due course, a supplementary chargesheet will be filed in the Faridkot court, which will commit it to the Chandigarh court where the trial is on,” he said.

In February, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial against dera head Ram Rahim and seven followers in three interlinked cases of Bargari sacrilege from a court in Faridkot to Chandigarh. The trial has now begun in a Chandigarh court.

According to the SIT probe, the three members of dera’s national committee, Sandeep Bareta, a resident of Bareta in Mansa district, Pardeep Kler of Panipat in Haryana and Harsh Dhuri of Dhuri in Sangrur district are the key links in Punjab’s five sacrilege incidents that sparked off statewide protests in 2015. Bareta has been declared proclaimed offender in the cases.

Direct link with Sirsa dera chief

The SIT probing the sacrilege cases claims to have found that the instructions to execute the sacrilege at Bargari, Moga and Gurusar were given by Bareta, Kler and Dhuri, to the district dera committee members. “In the Bargari sacrilege cases, the instructions to steal a ‘bir’ and then commit sacrilege came through the three. “The trio had met dera follower Mohinder Pal Bittu and instructed him for the theft and sacrilege,” ADGP Parmar said.

The SIT found that the conspiracy of desecration of Sikh scriptures was hatched at the administrative block of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and that the followers never acted without the permission of sect head Ram Rahim. The SIT has filed chargesheets against Ram Rahim in the three cases, naming him main conspirator.

An official familiar with the investigation said that the three dera national committee members were the missing link in the sacrilege cases. “The accused who had committed the sacrilege never got instructions from Ram Rahim as they were given by the trio. Bareta’s arrest is crucial as it will complete the chain of command and establish direct evidence against Ram Rahim,” he said.

Sacrilege incidents that triggered outrage

The ‘bir’ was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara on June 1, 2015. An FIR was registered the next day at Bajakhana police station. Three derogatory posters threatening sacrilege were pasted at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages on September 24-25, 2015 following which an 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 and the killing of two Sikh protesters in firing.

The trio, including Bareta, was named as accused in the Malke (Moga) and Gurusar (Bathinda) cases. Torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found at Malke village in Moga district in November 2015 and Gurusar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October 2015.

Last year, three dera followers were convicted and sentenced for three years imprisonment in Malke sacrilege case.

Another case of sacrilege feared

In 2018, then DIG (now retired) Ranbir Singh Khatra-led SIT had arrested more than 20 dera followers, including Mohinder Pal Bittu who was killed in the Nabha jail in 2019, in connection with the sacrilege incidents and rioting in Punjab in 2015.

The probe found that in the Moga case, the trio gave instructions to dera state committee member Pirthi Singh after which sacrilege was done by a dera follower at Malke village.

“In the Gurusar case, the torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib found in October 2015 were delivered to a dera state committee member, Jatindervir alias Jimmy, from the Sirsa dera directly. Deepak, a Malout resident, picked these pages from the dera headquarters and handed them over to Jimmy near the Bathinda thermal plant. There could be another case of sacrilege as we are yet to identify from where the dera had got those pages. The trio’s link was revealed during the interrogation of the accused dera followers, including Bittu, Pirthi and Jimmy. Bareta’s interrogation can reveal from where these pages were found,” the SIT official said, adding that the SIT could get the names of more people involved in sacrileges.