rediff.com: SGPC chief Jagir Kaur remains 'elusive'

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee chief Bibi Jagir Kaur continued to remain "elusive" on Sunday as the first information report on the mysterious death of her daughter Harpreet Kaur, filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, accused her of illegal confinement and criminal conspiracy.

Efforts to contact Jagir Kaur failed as none of the SGPC office-bearers knew where she was, reports from Chandigarh said.

The bureau's FIR said the pregnancy of Harpreet Kaur, Jagir Kaur's teenaged daughter, was confirmed by a doctor on February 12, 2000, after which the SGPC chief allegedly entered into a conspiracy with Dalvinder Kaur, Paramjit Singh and her personal security officer Nishant Singh.

They took Harpreet Kaur to Phagwara to avoid her meeting Kamaljit Singh, with whom she had been having an affair and to whom she was secretly engaged at Chandigarh on September 6, 1999, the FIR alleged.

According to the CBI, Dalvinder Kaur and Harminder Kumar took Harpreet Kaur to Phagwara on the pretext of taking her to Patiala for some marriage shopping. She was detained in Phagwara, allegedly so that a miscarriage could be induced, despite the knowledge that such an act could cause her death.

The FIR alleged that on March 19, 2000, Satya Kumari, maidservant of Dalvinder Kaur, gave "tea" to Harpreet Kaur after which "she started feeling giddy which later resulted in an abortion".

During this period Nishant Singh, Satya Kumari, Harminder Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar kept a close watch on Harpreet before she managed to jump out of a window on April 8, 2000, and fled to Jalandhar.

Harpreet Kaur called Kamaljit Singh from Jalandhar and both of them, along with Kamaljit's sister Manjeet Kaur, fled to Sonepat in Haryana.

But when Kamaljit Singh called his home in Punjab, he was told that police had raided his residence and was on the lookout for him, the FIR said.

Later, Harpreet Kaur called her mother to protest against the police raid on Kamaljit Singh's residence, following which Bibi Jagir Kaur promised to solemnise their marriage after Baisakhi, the FIR said.

The trio then returned to Chandigarh on April 10. Kamaljit Singh and his sister were escorted back to their village while Harpreet was again confined in Phagwara.

Ten days later she suffered from acute dehydration and dysentery, which caused her death on the intervening night of April 20-21.

The FIR alleged that Bibi Jagir Kaur cremated her daughter the very next day, without even getting a post-mortem conducted.

The CBI has arrested Dalwinder Kaur, Satya Kumari, Harminder Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar and Paramjit Singh, but has so far not issued a warrant against Bibi Jagir Kaur.

Kamaljit Singh, who claims to be Harpreet Kaur's husband, had, after recording his statement with the CBI on Friday, told reporters that Bibi Jagir Kaur was responsible for her daughter's murder.

Meanwhile, the police remand of four of the five arrested persons has been extended till October 10.

Duty Magistrate S K Arora of the Patiala court, who extended the remand, also ordered medical examination of the four -- Harminder Kumar, Satya Kumari, Paramjit Singh and Sanjeev Kumar -- after defence counsel alleged that they had been tortured during their earlier four-day police remand.

The CBI counsel had sought a 10-day extension citing the sensitivity of the case.

The defence counsel opposed the plea, saying the four had already spent four days in CBI custody and nothing had been found. "The FIR is a story far away from truth," he added.


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