Main conspirator of Sacrilege cases detained by Punjab Police

The main conspirator in the Bargari sacrilege cases of 2015 in Faridkot, Sandeep Bareta, was on Tuesday detained at Bangalore Airport after five years. Bareta, who is a National Committee member of the Dera Sacha Sauda, was involved in three interlinked incidents of sacrilege at Bargari, and was declared a fugitive and Proclaimed Offender by a court, along with two other committee members, Harsh Dhuri and Pradeep Klair.

The three were wanted in connection to the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters, and torn pages of the holy book found scattered at Bargari in Faridkot in 2015.

In a tweet, Punjab Police said that a police party had been dispatched to bring the accused before a court and sought police remand for custodial interrogation. The first of the three sacrilege cases was the theft of the Guru Granth Sahib from the Gurdwara Sahib at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on 1 June, 2015.

Then, on 25 September, two derogatory posters about the Sikh religion, Sikh preachers, and the Guru Granth Sahib were discovered pasted outside Dhodha Peer Gate at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala. The third case occurred on 12 October, when pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were discovered strewn outside the Bargari gurdwara and in the local streets.
An SIT report had accused Dera Sacha Sauda followers, including its head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, of the sacrilege.