Three Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) employees who were dismissed in 2020 after being “indicted” in the alleged disappearance of 328 ‘saroops’ of Sri Guru Granth Sahib have got interim bail and volunteered to join the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).Former SGPC deputy secretary Gurbachan Singh, ex-supervisor of publication Gurmukh Singh and former clerk Baj Singh, whose bail pleas were rejected by the Amritsar court in December last year, have got relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The trio, who were evading arrest, have decided to appear before the SIT. They alleged that they were made “scapegoats”.Their lawyer Prateek Sodhi said the High Court granted them interim bail on the merit that till date the misappropriation could not be established. “In addition, the court observed that there seems hardly any reason to justify why the FIR was registered after such a long delay,” he said.An Akal Takht-constituted panel had found 328 ‘saroops’ missing from the possession of the SGPC after scrutinising the ledgers of 2013-14 and 2014-15. It was alleged that the accused were involved in unauthorised printing, distribution, disappearance and mishandling of ‘saroops’ and misappropriation of ‘Bheta’ worth Rs 9.82 lakh.Gurbachan Singh said he had joined the publication department on March 27, 2018, whereas the matter pertained to the period between 2013-2015. “My retirement was due on July 31, 2020, but was given extension under a conspiracy. The inquiry of missing ‘saroops’ was on and after 27 days of extension of my services, I was sacked and my retirement benefits revoked,” he said.Baj Singh claimed that he was dragged into the case for being vocal about exposing the “misdeeds being committed in the administrative affairs”. He attributed the misappropriation to one Kanwaljeet Singh, who was supposed to collect and deposit the amount pertaining to the ‘saroops’. Kanwaljeet, along with auditor Satinder Singh Kohli, is in police custody.“I will reveal the truth to the SIT about the connivance and nexus of top SGPC officials leading to discrepancies in the ‘saroops’ records,” he claimed. Gurmukh Singh claimed that he was appointed in the publication department on February 5, 2019, whereas the alleged embezzlement pertained to the period between 2013 and 2015.