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Phagwara/Punjab: Tensions grip in Punjab’s Kapurthala district after a Nihang Sikh allegedly murdered a man over the suspicion that he committed sacrilege at the historical Gurdwara Sri Chaura Khooh Sahib in Phagwara on Monday night. Nihang, identified as Ramandeep Singh, uploaded the video and took responsibility for the murder. A team of police rushed to the Chaura Khooh gurdwara, where the murder accused had locked himself.
Senior officials of the Punjab Police have reached the spot, and further investigation is underway, Phagwara SP Gurpreet Singh said.
The accused, recognised as Ramandeep Singh Mangu Math, uploaded a video of the man before allegedly murdering him and locked himself inside the gurdwara. Math claimed that the man accepted in a video that he had been sent to the gurdwara to commit sacrilege.
The police have reached the spot and recovered the body of the man who allegedly committed the sacrilege at the gurdwara but he has not been identified yet. The accused is also yet to be arrested.
Recent years in Punjab have witnessed multiple sacrilege incidents, causing upheaval. In December 2023, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal had apologised to the Sikh community for the failure to apprehend the culprits involved in the 2015 sacrilege cases during the party’s rule.
In one instance last year, huge protests erupted after a man allegedly thrashed two Sikh priests and desecrated the ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ at a gurdwara in Morinda town. The accused, Jasvir Singh, was arrested by the Punjab Police.
The concept of sacrilege is often closely tied to religious beliefs and practices, but it can also refer to the violation of any deeply held values or beliefs, including secular ones. The severity of sacrilege can vary widely depending on the cultural context and the particular beliefs that are being violated.
