2015 sacrilege case: Akshay Kumar appears before SIT in Chandigarh

TIL Desk Bollywood/ Bollywood star Akshay Kumar today appeared before the special investigation team probing the police firing on Sikh protesters after a series of incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015. The Punjab Police SIT summoned Kumar under Section 160 of Code of Criminal Procedure on November 11.

Though Akshay does not have any direct link with the case, the SIT wants to examine him as his name was mentioned in the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report on sacrilege incidents, which was tabled in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in August this year.

The Justice Ranjit Singh commission report had referred to a letter written on October 9, 2017 to it by former MLA Harbans Jalal, claiming that Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and  former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had met at the actor’s flat in Mumbai in 2015 to facilitate the release of Ram Rahim’s movie ‘MSG’ in Punjab.

Akshay has already denied arranging any meeting between Badal and Ram Rahim. The actor had also denied having ever met Sirsa-headquartered Dera’s chief, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term in two rape cases. The SIT has already questioned former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal in Chandigarh. Sukhbir told SIT members Monday that he had never met Akshay outside Punjab when asked if he had met the actor in Mumbai.