SAD leaders Prakash Badal, Sukhbir Badal move anticipatory bail in Kotkapura firing case

Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday filed an anticipatory bail in a Faridkot court in relation to the 2015 Kotkapura firing incident, in which both of the SAD leaders, alongside many top authorities in Punjab’s law enforcement, have reportedly been named as accused.

On March 6, the JMIC court (Judicial Magistrate First Class) sent summons to the accused in the case, including Prakash and Sukhbir Badal, ordering them to appear before the court on March 23.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajeev Kalda is set to hear the bail plea of both the SAD leaders on March 14, according to media reports.

The incident dates back to October 14, 2015, at Kotkapura, wherein two persons were allegedly murdered when police allegedly opened fire on a crowd of protesters.
Following the theft of the sacred Guru Granth Sahib from a Gurudwara in Burj Jawaharsinghwala, Faridkot and the discovery of damaged pages from the Holy Book in Bargari, Faridkot, sacrilege incidents occurred between June and October of the same year.

“Sumedh Singh Saini ex DGP and Sukhbir Singh Badal ex-Home Minister both masterminds of conspiracy for illegal and excessive use of force to conceal the inaction of the state on a series of 3 sacrilege incidents of village Burj Jawaher Singhwala and Gurdwara sahib Bargari( affixing of the derogatory poster and scattering of Angs Shri Gurugranth Sahib Ji)… Parkash Singh Badal ex CM also facilitated in the execution of the conspiracy,” previously detailed the reportedly 7,000-page chargesheet submitted by the SIT team spearheaded by SIT chief ADGP LK Yadav and SSP Bathinda Gulneet Singh Khurana.