SIT to question Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2015 sacrilege case

A Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT) has left for the Sunaria Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak on Monday morning to question Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Dera Sacha Sauda chief, regarding a 2015 sacrilege case, PTI reported. The four-member SIT, led by Inspector General SPS Parmar, comprises Senior Superintendent of Police M S Bhullar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Lakhvir Singh, and Inspector Dalbir Singh.

Ram Rahim was named as an accused in the theft of a "bir" (copy) of the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib.

Before leaving for Rohtak, Parmar told reporters that it was a process of investigation which they were taking forward. Regarding how long the interrogation will be, he said that it would depend on whether Ram Rahim cooperates or not and whether he replies properly. A list of questions was prepared for the accused, he said.

Last month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed the state police to question Ram Rahim in jail regarding the sacrilege case. It added that Ram Rahim could not be taken to the Faridkot court in pursuance of a production warrant. The Faridkot court had issued the production warrant earlier against Ram Rahim in the case to produce him before it on October 29.

The previous SAD-BJP government had handed over three cases to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). These included the theft of the copy of the holy book from a Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up of handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, and torn pages of the holy book found at Bargari. The current government, however, handed them to the SIT in September 2018, stating a lack of progress in the CBI investigation.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, in 2017, for raping two of his disciples and is jailed in Sunaria jail. A couple of years ago, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. And in October this year, a special court in Panchkula sentenced him, along with four others, to life imprisonment in the 19-year-old murder case of sect manager Ranjit Singh.