Court holds sect leader, 7 others guilty in two cases

A local court today held guilty a sect leader and seven others in two cases registered against them in Roper district on charges of hurting the religious sentiments of a community.
Chief Judicial Magistrate A K Jain held Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarawala and other seven accused including Harjit Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Surmukh Singh, Surjit Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Ashok Kumar and Rajinder Singh, guilty in two cases registered against them in Morinda, Roper district in 2001.
The court will announce the quantum of sentence on May 13.
Five other accused Balwinder, Pritam, Sadhu, Karnail and Satnam were acquitted as no sufficient evidences were found against them. Besides, two accused died during the trial period of the case.

According to the prosecution, two cases against 15 persons including Bhaniarawala were registered for insulting the religious book and hurting religious sentiment of a community.
Later, on the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court both the cases were transferred to Ambala.
Tight security arrangements were made in and around the local courts complex in view of the appearance of Baba.