A follower of convicted rapist Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been shot dead in Punjab’s Faridkot by some unidentified assailants on Thursday’s morning. The victim was a follower of the Dera Sacha Sauda and was an accused in a 2015 sacrilege incident, the police said.
The incident took place when Pardeep was opening his shop in Kotkapura, they said, adding Pardeep’s gunman sustained bullet injuries in the incident. Pardeep was one of the accused in a case of theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 in Faridkot. He was currently on bail.
The sacrilege incidents in Faridkot in 2015 triggered protests in the district. Two persons were killed in Behbal Kalan while some people were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot after police fired at protesters in October 2015.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the dera is headquartered. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017.
Recently, a controversy was sparked when Gurmeet Ram Rahim was released on bail earlier last month, just ahead of the Adampur bypolls in Haryana. Several BJP leaders were seen at Ram Rahim’s rally, igniting a wave of criticism by the opposition.
