2.0 actor Akshay Kumar on Wednesday appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Punjab Police in connection with the Bargari sacrilege case. It is to be noted that SIT is probing the firing on mobs protesting the 2015 incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab.
On November 12, the SIT had given Akshay Kumar the option of appearing before it in Chandigarh instead of Amritsar. The Punjab Police SIT had earlier summoned Kumar to Amritsar circuit house on November 21. Besides Akshay Kumar, former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal were also summoned.
The first incident of sacrilege in this series is said to have taken place in June 2015 at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in Faridkot district. Then on October 12, 110 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found desecrated at the Bargari village in the same district. A number of incidents of desecration took place across the state in the following days.
The sacrilege incidents led to mass protests in several parts of the state with people demanding action against those responsible. Two people were killed in Behbal Kalan in Moga district when police fired at protesters. The police fired at protesters at Kotkapura in Faridkot district as well.
According to reports, the allegation against Akshay Kumar is that he played a role in mediating between the Badals and Ram Rahim. After the controversial godman was convicted of rape last year, Kumar had denied ever meeting him.
Akshay Kumar had issued the denial on November 12 after the SIT summoned him along with former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
“It has come to my knowledge that some rumours and false statements are being loosely made on social media about my involvement with a person named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the context of a fictitious meeting involving Sukhbir Singh Badal,” Akshay had said in a tweet.
“With all humility, I would like to state the following facts. I have never ever met Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in my life, anywhere. I learnt from social media at some point that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh resided for a while at some place in my locality Juhu in Mumbai but we never crossed each other’s paths,” he added.
However, his wife in January last year had tweeted a picture of Ram Rahim, saying that he had moved into their neighbourhood.