Chandigarh: Amid escalating tension over incidents of sacrilege, the Punjab Government on Sunday handed over the probe into the Bargari village incident and the death of two persons allegedly in police firing during subsequent protests to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The state government has handed over the probe into the incident of sacrilege at Bargari village and the killing of two persons allegedly in police firing on protesters gathered at Behbal Kalan in Faridkot district to the CBI, a government spokesman said.
"The government is keen to have all possible dimensions and ramifications of these heinous crimes thoroughly probed in an atmosphere of complete trust between the devout masses and the investigating authorities.
"Accordingly, the Chief Minister has given his clearance to transfer all the cases (related to the Bargari village incident) to the central agency," Punjab Chief Minister's Advisor on National Affairs and Media Harcharan Singh Bains told reporters.
The government had earlier set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under ADGP I P S Sahota to probe the matter. The SIT had concluded that "the accused became soft targets of anti-national forces due to greed and ambition of becoming rich".
It had arrested two brothers, identified as Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh, of Panjgrain village of Faridkot, in connection with the Bargari village incident, the first in a series of over eight incidents of sacrilege.
In total, police arrested six person in connection with five such incidents in different parts of state. Majority of those arrested were either priests or employees working in Sikh shrines.
Sikhs owing allegiance to various groups, including hardliners, had been seeking the arrest of "real culprits" as they alleged that the two brothers arrested in the Bargari village case were "falsely implicated" by the police.
Under intense attack over handling of the situation, the government in a sudden move had also shunted out Punjab police chief Sumedh Singh Saini.
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