Five men riding two bikes shot and killed Pardeep Singh, a Dera follower and suspect in a sacrilege case, today, November 10, 2022, in Kotkapura, Punjab. Pardeep Singh was shot while opening his dairy store and the incident was captured on a nearby CCTV camera.
Pardeep Singh was one of the suspects in the case involving the theft of a Guru Granth Sahib “bir” from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala. The incident took place in 2015. He had been given police protection while out on bail.
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Since the first sacrilege case was reported from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala in Faridkot on June 1, 2015, this is the seventh Dera follower to have been killed in Punjab. Here are 7 Dera followers who were killed in Punjab:
1. Gurdev Singh – June 13, 2016
2. Sat Pal Sharma – February 25, 2017
3. Ramesh Kumar Sharma – February 25, 2017
4. Mohinder Pal Bittu – January 23, 2019
5. Manohar Lal – January 20, 2020
6. Charan Dass – December 3, 2021
7. Pardeep Singh – November 10, 2022
According to the IGP, police officers neglected their obligations to provide security to the Pardeep. Pardeep Singh operated a small dairy and grocery store. He was fatally shot at his store on Kotkapura’s Hari Nau Road around 7 a.m.
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A police officer who was escorting Pardeep and another person were injured. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has appealed for peace, saying that no one will be allowed to disrupt the state’s harmony. Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Inspector General of Police (Faridkot Range), told reporters that police have some leads and are working on them. He added that the assailants would be apprehended soon.
Protests erupted in Faridkot following sacrilege incidents in 2015. In October 2015, police opened fire on protesters in Behbal Kalan, killing two people and injuring several others in Kotkapura, Faridkot. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of Dera Sacha Sauda, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for raping two female disciples at his ashram in Sirsa. In August 2017, he was found guilty by a special CBI court in Panchkula.
