Jalandhar: Takht Patna Sahib Jathedar Ranjit Singh declared ‘tankhaiya’

JALANDHAR: Takht Patna Sahib Jathedar Giani Ranjit Singh was declared ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty) by Panj Pyare (five beloved ones of the Guru) late on Sunday for misappropriation, issuing an whimsical and honorific edict on his own without consultations to a Jalandhar-based person.
This has endorsed the stand and action taken by Takht Patna Sahib managing committee president Avtar Singh Hit of withdrawing all services, post and facilities from Giani Ranjit Singh on August 28.
Hit passed away on Saturday morning and in an interview a day before his death he made more revelations about Giani Ranjit Singh and challenged him to come clean.
The edict to declare him ‘tankhaiya’ was pronounced by the Pane Pyare late on Sunday after “thorough deliberations” for around eight hours. They said that it was unfortunate that he misappropriated funds of Daswandh (one-tenth of income donated by the Sikhs) and to issue a whimsical and honorific edict of declaring Gurwinder Singh Samra as “Annin Sewak” (very dedicated servant of the Guru), who had made valuable offerings at the Takht. Samra hails from Kartarpur town of Punjab’s Jalandhar district.
The edict issued by the Panj Pyare also said that the earlier edict issued by the Jathedar also grossly exaggerated the quantum of gold plated on a sword.
“He has damaged the tradition of edict and also the prestige of his post. He also tried to build pressure on some office bearers of the managing committee to get the Panj Pyare shifted to other places and tried to influence the proceedings. They also pronounced religious punishment on Samra because his going to the media hurt prestige of the Takht.