A special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police has arrested Satinder Singh Kohli, a former internal auditor of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), in connection with the alleged disappearance of 328 ‘saroops’ of Guru Granth Sahib.
He was arrested from a hotel in Chandigarh, the first arrest in the case, AAP state general secretary and media incharge Baltej Pannu said.
The SIT was constituted on December 23 to probe the alleged disappearance of 328 ‘saroops’ of Guru Granth Sahib from SGPC records. More arrests are likely in days to come. The issue had first surfaced in 2020. A case in this regard was lodged on December 7.
“Following the court’s directions, an FIR was registered and the SIT constituted to probe the matter. Satinder Singh Kohli, who is considered close to SAD president Sukhbir Badal, had been auditing SGPC accounts for several years,” said Pannu. “His name is mentioned in the same FIR in which 16 persons, including SGPC officials, have been named. Look-out circulars (LOCs) were issued against all accused. The SIT is now questioning them,” he said.
Kohli’s firm SS Kohli and Associates was hired in 2009 for internal audit and computerisation of accounts, for which it was paid Rs 3.5 lakh per month. An Akal Takht probe report had stated that his firm failed to prevent the misappropriation of the ‘saroops’. In 2020, the SGPC terminated the firm’s services and passed a resolution to recover 75 per cent of the payment made.
Kohli was produced in an Amritsar court, where the police sought his 12-day remand. However, the duty magistrate granted police remand for six days.
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