SIT formed to probe church desecration incident in Punjab

Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Friday constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to ensure a speedy investigation into the desecration and fire incident at a church in Thakarpura village, district Tarn Taran, of Punjab on August 31.

Headed by the inspector general of police (IGP) Ferozepur range, the SIT has the senior superintendent of police (SSP) and SP (investigation), Tarn Taran, as its members. Taking a serious note of the incident, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had directed the director general of police (DGP), Gaurav Yadav, to probe into this incident. Subsequently, the director of, bureau of investigation (BOI), B Chandra Sekhar constituted the three-member SIT.

Yadav said that the SIT would conduct a day-to-day investigation into this case and submit a final report in the court at the earliest.

The district SSP R S Bhullar had said after the incident that four notorious elements had tried to vandalise the idol of Jesus and set ablaze a car at church and that the police was investigating the matter and had vital clues. Stating that the police would solve the case soon, he said that the police was behind the culprits.

A few days ago, Akal Takht (the highest temporal seat of Sikhism) Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had posted a video alleging that ``fake pastors’’ were misleading the Sikhs. Earlier, a group of Nihangs and their supporters had disrupted an event organised by Christian missionaries at Daduana village of Amritsar district.

According to media reports, however, both the police and the local pastor had refused to link these events, saying they were waiting for the investigation to get over.

Meanwhile, the state Christian leadership has announced to hold peaceful candlelight marches across Punjab on Saturday (September 3). Also, the Punjab police had on Thursday announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for the information about the accused, who had vandalised the church.