The Punjab Police on Thursday filed a plea in the Chandigarh District Court seeking bail against Pardeep Kaler, one of the accused in the 2015 Bergari desecration case.
An application was submitted before Chief Judicial Magistrate Sachin Yadav regarding FIR No. 63 registered at Police Station Bazakhana, Faridkot. This issue is related to insulting Guru Granth Sahib. The court has scheduled a hearing on January 9, 2025.
According to the police, Kaler has voluntarily agreed to become an approver in the case. Kaler, a proclaimed offender in the high-profile case, was arrested from Gurugram in February this year after evading arrest since 2018.
Once a member of Dera Sirsa’s adjudicating body, Kaler was chargesheeted in FIR No. 63, which relates to the theft of Guru Granth Sahib Bir from Gurdwara Jawahar Singh Wala in Faridkot district in June 2015.
Trial proceedings against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and other accused in the 2015 unholy cases resumed in the Chandigarh district court in November. During Thursday’s hearing, Gurmeet Ram Rahim was present through video conferencing, while the other accused, Sukhjinder Singh, Ranjit Singh and Shakti Singh, who are out on bail, were present in the court.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s lawyers requested the court to direct the state to provide the vulnerable documents, which the court accepted.
In March, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the hearing process in defamation cases filed under Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s FIR Nos. 63, 117, and 128 of 2015. The Punjab government later challenged the stay in the Supreme Court.
In February 2023, the Supreme Court moved the case from Faridkot to Chandigarh, citing security concerns raised by the accused. The three interlinked incidents of desecration include theft of Guru Granth Sahib Bir from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015, display of objectionable posters at Burgari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 25, 2015, and seizure of torn sheets. Beer stolen near Gurdwara in Bargari on October 12, 2015.
Ram Rahim has been named as the main conspirator in the unholy incident by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police.
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