The entire core committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, unexpectedly reached the office of DGP Gaurav Yadav today. Amidst raising anti-government slogans, they staged a dharna at the office gate.
In the backdrop of the investigation being carried out into the disappearance of 328 ‘saroops’ of Sri Guru Granth Sahib from the possession of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) by the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the government, Sukhbir alleged that intrusions into his private business affairs were being made to prepare the ground to frame him on frivolous charges.
Among the 16 persons held accountable for the missing ‘saroops’, one is SGPC’s former internal auditor Satinder Singh Kohli, who also looked after Sukhbir’s business audit. Sukhbir claimed that the police were unnecessarily harassing his accountants and their families, whereas they had absolutely nothing to do with SGPC.
“I volunteer to get arrested. Let the police register a case against me and investigate whatever they intend to do. But those having no concern should not be bothered unduly,” he said.
The probe report revealed that no SGPC audits had been conducted since 2016, despite Kohli’s firm, SS Kohli & Associates — a private chartered accountancy team — being hired in 2009 for audits and account computerisation. In 2020, SGPC had terminated Kohli’s services, and as per the Akal Takht directions, the SGPC executive had approved legal action to recover 75 per cent of payments made to Kohli then. But it was not done