Five Years Sentence for Two Sirsa Cult Disciples Who Set Bus on Fire; Five Acquitted

CHANDIGARH, Punjab—On February 1, a Sangrur based Court of Additional Sessions Judge Jasjit Singh Bhinder convicted two Sirsa cult disciples for five years in a case of setting a minibus on fire near Qila Hakima village on August 25, 2017. Notably, a minibus was set on fire by several Sirsa cult disciples following conviction of Sirsa cult chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a rape case.  

A case under Sections 307, 353, 186, 436, 427, 120-B, 148 and 149 of the IPC and under Sections 4/5 of the Punjab Prevention of Damages to Public Private Property Act, 2014, was registered against Dunni Chand, Rajinder Kumar, Bhagat Singh, Amandeep Singh, Pardeep Singh, Narinder Pal Singh and Lovepreet Singh in 2017.

The Court convicted only two, namely Pardeep and Narinder Pal while the five others, namely Dunni Chand, Rajinder Kumar, Bhagat Singh, Amandeep Singh and Lovepreet have been acquitted due to lack of evidence. A fine of Rs 5,000 has been also imposed on each of them and if they fail to pay the fine, they will have to undergo additional one-year imprisonment. 

It may be recalled here that the Assistant Sub-Inspector Hardial Dass, incharge of the Ranike police post, had identified the guilty culprits and later their names were added in the FIR.

In their challan submitted to the court, the Police had claimed that during interrogation of the accused, it had come to light that they were asked by some other cult disciples to set the government and private properties on fire if the court decision goes against the cult head.