Punjab’s religious preacher in trouble; accused baba booked under charges of murder and sexual assault
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ December 10,2024
Religious preacher from Patiala Ranjit Singh Dadrianwale has been booked by Patiala police under charges of murder and sexual assault. An FIR has been registered against him , as revealed in an affidavit submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the Director General of Police (DGP) on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana high court had asked Punjab director general of police (DGP) to explain what action has been taken against officers who approved closure of a case regarding mysterious death of a woman in 2012 allegedly at the dera of preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale. The DGP informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the FIR was lodged on December 7 in Patiala. The case pertains to incidents that occurred over 12 years ago but were allegedly overlooked at the time.
“Let an affidavit of the director general of police, Punjab, be filed explaining as to what action has been taken against the erring police officers/officials and as to whether the tendency of conducting preliminary inquiry to assess the veracity of allegation(s) in the complaint has been stopped or not and if not, then why?” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Anil Kshetarpal observed while deferring the hearing of a case for December 9.
As per available information, the police has not only registered an FIR against Religious preacher from Patiala Ranjit Singh Dadrian Wale but has also initiated action against Ashok Kumar, the then Station House Officer (SHO), who has since retired as Superintendent of Police (SP), and Sewa Singh Malhi, who held the SP rank during the period in question. They have also been issued show-cause notices.
Punjab’s religious preacher in trouble; accused baba booked under charges of murder and sexual assault. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has scheduled the next hearing in the matter for Thursday to deliberate further on the case and the ongoing investigation.
Petitioner’s lawyer Navneet Kaur said that the petitioner’s sister was raped and murdered by giving her some poisonous substance in the dera of Baba Ranjit Singh (Dhadrianwale) on 22 April 2012. According to the petition, it is alleged that the deceased’s sister, few days before her murder, she came to know about the reality of Ranjit Singh (Dhadrianwale) that he used to influence the devotees in the dera and then sexually harass them, on which her sister decided to protest against Baba Ranjit Singh (Dhadrianwale) for the above acts of harassment by informing her parents and the police. She decided to oppose Baba out of fear and told her brother and parents the whole story that she was one of the victims of Baba Ranjit Singh, who repeatedly raped her. On the afternoon of 22 April 2012, she received a call from the Dhadrianwale’s dera to come and resolve the matter with Baba, on which she went there. There after the Baba poisoned her and her sister died.
The brother added that the police were approached but due to “pressure”, it did not investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, SHO, Pasiana police station could not be contacted despite repeated attempts as his official mobile number remained out of reach.
