Sikh radicals disrupt dera’s congregation in Ferozepur, 25 booked

Sikh radicals disrupted a religious congregation of Dera Sacha Sauda followers at Makhu town of Zira sub-division in Ferozepur district on Sunday.
Police have registered a case against 25 radicals, among whom 13 are booked by name, while the rest are unidentified. No arrest has been made until now.
Sources said Raj Kumar, a dera follower, had organised ‘Nam Charcha’, a religious congregation, at railway colony in Makhu, 58 km from Ferozepur, on Sunday morning.
However, Sikh radicals, led by Dilbhag Singh of ‘Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj’, reached the spot and opposed the holding of congregation. They even uprooted the pandal at the venue, which made the situation volatile.
The two groups started raising slogans against each other, leading to heated exchanges between them.
Police, which were present on the venue since morning, then jumped into action and pacified the two groups and managed to disperse them.
A violent clash was averted due to intervention of the police. However, the congregation was not resumed by dera followers thereafter.
Ferozepur SSP Gaurav Garg said a case was registered against 25 Sikh radicals under section 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 506 (criminal intimidation) 427 (mischief causing damage), 148 and 149 (rioting) of the Indian Penal Code. He said a probe was on and no one had been arrested so far.
DERA’S SUPPORT TO SAD
Notably, the Dera Sacha Sauda had announced its support to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) a few days before the February 4 elections following request of some SAD leaders. These leaders had then reportedly assured the Sirsa-based dera that the party, after coming to power again in the state, would allow dera followers to hold their religious congregations in Punjab.
However, taking a serious note of the SAD leaders’ seeking support from the dera, the Akal Takht had ordered a probe against them.