By IANS,
Chandigarh: Radical Sikh group Dal Khalsa Tuesday demanded the Sikhs’ highest temporal body, the Akal Takht and Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) send a joint fact-finding team to Vienna to probe the May shoot-out at a gurdwara there.
“We want them to send a team to Vienna to ascertain the reasons and circumstances that led to the shootout at the gurdwara,” Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh said.
The Dal Khalsa also submitted a memorandum to the Akal Takht jathedar (highest priest) and urged him to lend a legal support for the suspects of the Vienna incident.
“All the suspects have full right to defend themselves in a court of law and the jathedar should arrange a team of lawyers from Punjab and Europe to plead their case,” added Singh.
Widespread violence erupted in Punjab following a bloody clash in the Vienna gurdwara May 24, where the top two leaders of the Dera Sachh Khand sect, who are followers of Guru Ravidass and belong to the Dalit Sikh community, were attacked with knives and firearms.
While the sect head Niranjan Dass was injured seriously in the attack, his second in command, Sant Rama Nand Dass, died from gunshot wounds.