A SHIROMANI Akali Dal delegation met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit here on Friday and demanded a CBI probe into the recent clash at a gurudwara in Kapurthala’s Sultanpur Lodhi in which a home guard jawan was killed.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation, which was led by party President Sukhbir Singh Badal, alleged that the Kapurthala Police “entered the gurudwara premises early morning in full combat uniform with assault rifles and indulged in wanton firing”.

 

Badal said that “evidence in this regard had been submitted to the Governor”. The SAD requested the Governor “to recommend a CBI probe” into what the Opposition party alleged was “sacrilegious armed attack on Gurudwara Akal Bunga Sahib” in Sultanpur Lodhi on November 23. The SAD alleged that it had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community worldwide. “The armed attack on the peaceful sangat at 4 am (on November 23) when it was reciting gurbani has reminded the Sikhs of a similar attack on Sri Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar in 1984.

 

The Sikhs worldwide are outraged and they are now seeking justice for this heinous act,” said the memorandum submitted to the Governor by Badal-led delegation. A home guard jawan was killed while four policemen suffered injuries when a group of Nihangs resorted to ‘unprovoked’ firing at them at Gurdwara Akal Bunga Sahib in Kapurthala on November 23. The incident took place when the policemen tried to get the gurudwara vacated from a faction of Nihangs.