Sacrilege accused Dera follower dead; Canada based gangster claims responsibility

A Dera Sacha Sauda follower, who was out on bail in a sacrilege case, was shot dead Thursday morning by five assailants outside his shop in Punjab’s Faridkot district.

The slain sacrilege accused, identified as Pradeep Singh, was one of the accused in a case of theft of a ‘bir’ of the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 in Faridkot and was currently on bail. Singh was a follower of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term after being convicted of rape of two of his female disciples in 2017.

It is pertinent to note that Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim is currently out on bail and regularly interacting with his followers, who are referred to as ‘premi’.

A Viral CCTV clip, which has since been made rounds on social media, shows the ‘Beadbi case’ accused being shot at by assailants on motorbikes while opening his dairy shop in Hari Nau Road in Kotkapura. A police escort as well as another person also reportedly sustained injuries due to the incident, which is said to have occurred around 7 am on Thursday.

The injured were soon taken to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital at Faridkot.

#Faridkot : Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pradeep Singh, named in 'Beadbi case', was shot dead by unknown bike riders, a gunman was also injured. Incident caught on #CCTV.#DeraSachaSauda #Beadbi #GunShot #Punjab pic.twitter.com/hM6GwipVdK

— Himanshu dixit 💙 (@HimanshuDixitt) November 10, 2022

Taking to Facebook, Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar has since taken responsibility for the murder. Brar is a close aide of infamous gangster Lawerence Bishnoi and was also involved in the murder case of Sidhu Moosewala.

Brar states in the Facebook post in Punjabi that due to a lack of action by the authorities, he decided to take the matters into his own hands. He also expressed regret over the injuries sustained by the police escort in the same post.

He finished the post by stating, “The Hindu-Sikh brothers have taken this revenge together because Guru Sahib is common to all.”

Punjab Police has not verified the claims made by Brar so far.

Following the attack, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann held a meeting with senior police officials.

“In a meeting with senior police officials with CM today, Kot Kapura incident was discussed in detail. CM clearly said that peace and harmony will be maintained in the state. Another meeting will be called next week. Case probe underway, ” said the statement.

Mann also took to Twitter to assert that the peace of the state will not be disturbed tweeting in Punjabi, “Punjab is a peace-loving state where the mutual brotherhood of people is very strong. No one will be allowed to disturb the peace of Punjab…Strict instructions to the civil and police officials to maintain the peace and tranquillity in the state.”

ਪੰਜਾਬ ਇੱਕ ਅਮਨ ਪਸੰਦ ਸੂਬਾ ਹੈ ਇੱਥੇ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦਾ ਆਪਸੀ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਾ ਬਹੁਤ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਤ ਹੈ..ਕਿਸੇ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ ਭੰਗ ਕਰਨ ਦੀ ਇਜ਼ਾਜਤ ਨਹੀਂ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜਾਵੇਗੀ ..ਸੂਬੇ ਦੀ ਅਮਨ-ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ ਕਾਇਮ ਰੱਖਣ ਲਈ ਸਿਵਲ ਅਤੇ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਸਖ਼ਤ ਨਿਰਦੇਸ਼ ..

— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) November 10, 2022

Inspector General of Police (Faridkot Range) Pradeep Kumar Yadav, while speaking to media outlets on Thursday, assured that the assailants will be arrested soon as the Punjab Police has acquired leads that they are working on.