Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to visit Punjab tomorrow

CHANDIGARH: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will visit the Punjab's Faridkot district tomorrow and meet the families of victims of police firing during a protest there against a sacrilege incident.

He will also meet farmers in Bathinda district during his two-day visit.

Rahul is likely to visit the families of Gurjit Singh and Krishan Singh of Sarawan and Niamiwala village respectively.

Both the Sikhs were killed in police firing at Behbal Kalan near Kotkapura when the Sikhs were protesting against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Argari village in Faridkot on October 14.

Police drew flak for the firing on the protesters from the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Later, the government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident and booked "unknown" police officials under charges of murder and Arms Act.

AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have already met the family of the two victims last month.

"Rahul will meet the families of the victims on his two-day programme of Punjab starting tomorrow," Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa told PTI.

Besides, he will also meet the farmers at Bathinda. At present, paddy procurement is going on in the state.

Hardliners and Sikhs owing allegiance to different organisations have sought exemplary punishment for the cops involved in the firing incident.

Series of incidents of sacrilege had put Punjab under turmoil with protesters blocking road traffic last month.

Sikh preachers and hardliners had mulled the idea to set up a memorial of the two Sikhs killed in police firing at Bargari, the site of incident.

Bargari was the epicenter of the Sikhs' protests against the incidents of sacrilege of the holy book in the state.

Police have so far arrested over seven people, including two brothers Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh, for their alleged involvement in the acts of sacrilege.

Majority of those arrested for sacrilege were either Sikh priests or employees working in Gurdwaras.

However, all the arrested persons were later released due to lack of evidence against them.

Earlier, Rahul had visited Punjab via train in the month of April. He had then visited three Mandis of the state, including Asia's largest grain market at Khanna.

Congress, AAP, and Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) have been seeking imposition of President's rule in Punjab for the alleged failure of law and order machinery in the state.