Punjab Congress chief and former chief minister Amrinder Singh on Friday visited the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and met its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to seek the support of the sect followers in favour of his party for the January 30 assembly polls.
Pardeep Singh was shot in his dairy shop at around 7 am in Kotkapura in Faridkot, the police said, adding that his security man and another person sustained bullet injuries in the incident.
Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Yudhvir Singh said that preliminary reports indicated that at the function, someone spread a rumour about the presence of a snake that led to devotees running helter-skelter leading to the stampede.
The Dera chief was returning from Rajasthan when his vehicle was attacked, but he escaped unhurt, a senior official said.
Leaders have appealed to the participants to maintain peace and not to raise any kind of slogans.
The followers, owing allegiance to the 'Sant Samaj', an umbrella organisation of various Sikh bodies, congregated at a shrine at Fatehgarh Sahib as police took precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incidents.
Bakshish Singh Baba, a hardcore militant caught by the Punjab Police was working towards the revival of terror outfit Khalistan Liberation Force and planning to carry out a series of explosions in the state at the behest of Pakistan's ISI, a senior police official said.
Supporters of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect blocked rail and road traffic at various places in Punjab for the second day on Sunday, demanding that cinema halls screen sect leader Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh's film MSG-2.
Resenting the filing of a murder case against the Dera Sacha Sauda head by the CBI, the sect supporters on Saturday went on a rampage setting ablaze four trains and around 37 vehicles, including 27 buses, and vandalized property in several places in Punjab and Haryana.
Addressing mediamen at Wishvkarma Gurudwara at Mandi Dabwali, the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar (Panj-Pardhani) Daljit Singh Bittu said the Dera chief should be arrested and his activities should be stopped by the Union government. Protestors will pray at the Golden temple in Amritsar on July 19 before leaving for Delhi, Bittu added.
Train services in Punjab were suspended on Wednesday following blocking of tracks at several places by members of the Sikh community, who are demanding the arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in the wake of the Mumbai firing incident.The 'rail roko' call given by Damdami Taksal, Shiromani Akali Dal and certain radical Sikh organisations asked the protesters to remain peaceful.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was forced to leave Mysore for security reasons in the early hours of Monday, following protests from the Sikh community.Police sources said that Singh, who was shifted to Bangalore under tight security, left for Delhi by the early morning flight.There are widespread protests all over the country by the Sikh community, demanding Singh's arrest, after his security guards killed one person in Mumbai and fired at Sikh protest groups
The police on Sunday shifted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to an undisclosed destination for "security reasons" amid continued protests over the gunning down of a Sikh demonstrator in Mumbai while radical groups demanded the Dera Sacha Sauda chief's immediate arrest.
Badal's resignation came days after he urged the Akal Takht Jathedar to pronounce his punishment for religious misconduct charges, saying more than two months have passed since he was declared 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct).
"Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency imparted the training to Gurpreet Singh," said Punjab Director-General of Police N P S Aulakh. Gurpreet Singh and two other suspected Babbar Khalsa militants were arrested near the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar on December 25. Aulakh said that Gurpreet went to Pakistan with a jatha of Sikh pilgrims and he was trained with another terrorist Harminder Singh. Gurpreet returned in mid-2007 to revive the terrorist module in the state.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikh community.
The court also directed that Singh shall remain present and join investigations as and when required in future and adjourned the matter to September 19.
The decision has been taken to maintain peace in the area in wake of the Dera stand-off with Sikhs following the recent blasphemous act of Dera head Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
The action committee of the Sirsa-based sect, in a letter to Kalam, also demanded registration of case against those who are allegedly committing excesses on its followers.
"Police have sent an application to the government seeking sanction to prosecute the Dera head," Bhatinda police chief Naunihal Singh told PTI over phone in Chandigarh on Saturday.
The apology letter addressed to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vidanti was delivered to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Avtar Singh Makkar by Congress legislator from Bathinda Harminder Singh Jassi.
The court, however, directed the police to seek the Punjab government's permission before arresting the Sirsa-based Dera head.
Special Judge, CBI Court, R K Saini framed charges against the five -- Kishan Lal, Avtar Singh, Inder Saini, Jasbir Singh and Sabdil Singh -- in the Ranjeet murder case.
Abhijit Bhagat, a trustee and vice-chairman of the Dera, moved a special leave petition before apex court that was heard by a bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice D K Jain.
Shops downed shutters, educational institutions were shut and fewer vehicles plied on roads as government offices reported thin attendance in the state.
Police on Monday lathicharged Sikh protestors who tried to take out a procession defying prohibitory orders to protest against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's alleged insult to tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.
the SAD president said that the Prakash Singh Badal government had failed to control the law and order situation in the state, arising out of the Dera Sacha Sauda controversy.
At least 22 people were injured in sporadic incidents of violence -- most of them attacks on Dera properties by Sikh protestors even as thousands of Sikhs laid siege to a Dera ashram in Salabatpura in Bhatinda district.
"Congress has always tried to disturb peace in the state whenever it is out of power."
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Saturday directed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to be present on August 23 to hear formal framing of charges against him in connection with a 1999 case involving the rape of a female disciple.Singh was not present in the court today owing to ill health, skipping a second successive appearance. The Dera chief is the lone accused in the case of alleged sexual exploitation involving a female sect member.
One person was killed when a group of Sikhs clashed with Dera Sacha Sauda supporters in Dabwali town in Sisra district of Chandigarh on Friday morning.
high level delegation led by Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal will visit Mumbai on Tuesday to meet the members of the family of Balkar Singh, who was killed in the incident of firing allegedly by private security guards of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
A car, part of the cavalcade of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, went up in flames in Haryana's Karnal district on Saturday. The driver of the car lost control after its engine developed trouble near village Manakmajra. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the car went up in flames, police said. Two people have been rounded up in connection with the incident, police said, adding it was too early to conclude whether it was an accident or an attack
A local court on Thursday extended till October 15 the interim bail given to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in three cases of murder and sexual harassment
The allegation is that the Dera plotted against VVIPs like Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and several others.
A special CBI team, escorted by heavily armed police, reached the Dera headquarters in Sirsa on Saturday morning and was made to wait for over three hours before the notice could be served to the Dera chief in his gufa (cave), CBI sources said.
According to official sources in Chandigarh, the six persons, all belonging to Sikh community, received minor injuries on their legs after the shooting incident in Mallewala village, about 10 km from Sirsa, and were treated in a local hospital.
The government had given the nod for his arrest.
Emerging from a meeting of Akal Takht in Amritsar, jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti told reporters that "the fresh note received from Dera head neither accepts his sin nor promises not to repeat such act again."
Top Sikh clerics on Tuesday met to decide the future course of action against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the wake of an apology tendered by him for dressing like Guru Gobind Singh.
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