In the latest twist to the sacrilege incident in Kapurthala, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh revealed that the man who was beaten to death by the mob was
not trying to commit discretion, but steal from Gurudwara. According to preliminary investigation, the young man had not touched Shri Guru Granth Sahib which was on the first floor of the shrine.
Terming the incident as mob lynching and not sacrilege, the senior police official said that charges will be filed against the mob for killing the man.
According to the preliminary investigation done by the police team, the man was a thief and was trying to steal Nishan Sahib and other things when he was caught by Gurdwara caretaker Amarjit
Singh. The man was allegedly wearing a jacket from one of the guards of the shrine.
The incident occurred at Nijampur village of Kapurthala on Sunday at around 4 am. Residents of the village apprehended the man in the early hours of Sunday at a gurdwara, stating that he
was seen "already disrespecting" the Nishan Sahib (Sikh flag) at the gurdwara.
The man accused of sacrilege then tried to flee the scene, however, was brutally thrashed with rods. A police team was immediately rushed to the scene and took the man into custody. He was
interrogated inside a locked room.
Meanwhile, a massive crowd had gathered outside the Gurudwara. The police tried to persuade the crowd that the man had not tampered with Guru Granth Sahib and is a thief. However, the mob
engaged in a scuffle with police and hacked the man to death.
SSP Khakh further stated that some identity cards of children were found on the killed man. The man allegedly committed theft into a house and stole children's identity cards.
The body has been sent for postmortem and investigation is underway.