Punjab Ex Chief Minister Parkash Badal Named In 2015 Firing Case Chargesheet

The Special Investigation Team of Punjab Police probing the 2015 Kotkapura police firing case on Friday filed a chargesheet in a court in Faridkot naming Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, the then Chief Minister and Deputy CM of the state.

"In Faridkot court, SIT has filed a 7,000-page challan in which accused of that time, be it those who fired bullets, or who gave direction for it, or their political masters, have been nominated in it," Punjab Minister Aman Arora told reporters here.

"In the challan, be it the then Chief Minister (Parkash Singh) Badal, the then Home Minister Sukhbir Badal, or the then police DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, all have been named, among others," the Housing and Urban Development Minister said here.

The SIT is led by Additional Director General of Police L K Yadav.

Later in a statement, Mr Arora said that according to the SIT, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sumedh Singh Saini allegedly conspired to use illegal and excessive force to hide the negligence of the then government in the incidents of sacrilege at village Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari.

In the chargesheet, Parkash Singh Badal has been accused of facilitating the execution of the conspiracy.

In a tweet in Punjabi, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said, "faces of accused and conspirators of Kotkapura firing incident have been exposed..sentiments of crores of people will be soothed...we stand by the promise of getting justice...minister or sentry, the law is equal for all...truth never remains concealed." The incidents under investigation relate to the theft of a 'bir' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, the putting up of handwritten sacrilegious posters, and the finding of torn pages of the holy book in Faridkot's Bargari in 2015.

Two men, Gurjeet Singh, and Kishan Bhagwan Singh were killed in Behbal Kalan in police firing during a protest that had sparked in the wake of the incidents. Several other people were injured in the police firing.

The Behbal Kalan police firing incident is being investigated by an SIT headed by IG Naunihal Singh.

"For five years, Congress also ruled and they claimed justice will be done within days, but they failed because their intent was not right," Aman Arora said.

Referring to the chargesheet, Arora said, "It only became possible because an honest government is in place in Punjab. AAP had said things will be taken to a logical conclusion." "SIT was given the mandate to work in a free and fair manner and it was ensured that there was no interference of any kind. The mandate was clear - truth must come out," he said, as he called the chargesheet a landmark victory for the people of Punjab.

Sukhbir Badal, who also held the home portfolio in 2015, told reporters on Friday that for the last few years, political opponents had been trying to target the Badal family.

Sukhbir, who has appeared before the SIT in the past, dubbed the filing of the chargesheet "politically motivated" and claimed that a month back, minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal had told protesters at Behbal Kalan that names of Badals will be included in the chargesheet.

Sukhbir Badal said he was out of Punjab on the day of the incident and had also not spoken to any of the officers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)