The Punjab government has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking a copy of the closure report the agency submitted in a Mohali court on July 4 in the politically-sensitive 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, as it is considering challenging the report soon.

A letter was forwarded in this regard on Monday to the central agency by the Punjab Police’s Bureau of Investigation (BoI) on the directions of the Capt Amarinder Singh-led government.

Senior officials privy with the development said the government is planning to challenge the report in the CBI special court when the case will come up for hearing on July 23.

The cases were handed over to the CBI in 2015. The previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) regime had decided to hand over the probe to it in three FIRs registered in Faridkot district in connection with the theft of Guru Granth Sahib at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village on June 1, 2015, pasting of posters at Bargari threatening to tear the holy book on September 24, and sacrilege on October 12 that year.

On Monday, Punjab Police officials made attempts to procure the copy of the report from the Mohali court, but could not, it was learnt.

A member of the Punjab Police’s special investigation team (SIT) probing firing on Sikh protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan after the 2015 sacrilege incidents was also spotted in the court. He too failed to lay his hands on the contents of the report.

‘AGENCY FAILS TO FIND WHO DESECRATED BOOK’

As per information, the CBI failed to establish that Dera Sacha Sauda followers Mohinder Pal Bittu, recently murdered in the Nabha jail, Sukhjinder Singh alias Sunny and Shakti Singh, were involved in the sacrilege of the Sikh holy book.

The claims about the involvement of the three were made during the probe carried by the Punjab Police’s special investigation team (SIT) led by deputy inspector general (DIG) RS Khatra.

“The agency could neither establish the involvement of the accused nor could it find out who the actual culprits of the sacrilege were,” said an official.

The CBI had conducted brain-mapping and lie-detector tests of Bittu in August 2018 in the Nabha jail after Bittu had moved a special court claiming he was being framed in the case.

The CBI has cited these tests while seeking closure of the probe, it is learnt. The court is expected to issue notice to complainant Gora Singh, granthi of the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara, who lodged the first complaint of sacrilege, when the case will come up for hearing on July 23.

“The closure report will not have any adverse impact on our probe. This has only increased our responsibility,” said inspector general (IG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a member of the SIT probing the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing cases.

“The government is of the view that since the complainant had first come to the police and it was the state government which referred the matter to the CBI, it has the right to be heard in court,” a senior official said.

State advocate general Atul Nanda said the government will decide its legal course after seeing the report.

First Published: Jul 16, 2019 12:09 IST