Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday appeared before a Special Investigation Team probing the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing incident in Punjab.Badal was summoned by the SIT led by Deputy Inspector General (Bathinda range) Harjit Singh to appear before it at the Punjab Police Officers Institute (PPOI) in Sector 32.Heavy police deployment was made around the PPOI with Chandigarh Police erecting barricades on roads leading to the venue, where Akali Dal leaders, including former MLA N K Sharma, and party supporters gathered ahead of Badal’s arrival.Badal was accompanied by party leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Balwinder Singh Bhundar as he left for the PPOI from his Sector 9 residence.Akali supporters who gathered near the venue raised slogans in favour of the SAD chief.In a brief interaction with the media before his appearance before the SIT, Badal slammed the Aam Aadmi Party government, accusing it of enacting a drama as it is “scared” of the Akali Dal.He said that for the last 10 years, only politics have been played over the sacrilege issue, and no justice has been delivered yet.Incidents related to the theft of a copy of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, and torn pages of the holy book scattered at Bargari, occurred in Faridkot in 2015.These incidents led to massive anti-sacrilege protests in Faridkot in October 2015. In the police firing on protesters, two persons — Gurjeet Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh — were killed in Behbal Kalan, while some people were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot.The Akali Dal was in power in Punjab at the time, with late Parkash Singh Badal being the Chief Minister and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal his deputy also holding the home portfolio.


