Kapurthala Lynching: Gurdwara caretaker Amarjit Singh arrested for murder

Chandigarh, Dec 24: Hours after Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi announced on Friday that no sacrilege had taken place at the gurdwara in Kapurthala, Amarjit Singh, the gurdwara caretaker has been arrested for murder, among other offences.

Channi said that no evidence of sacrilege had been found in the incident, adding that the youth was lynched and the probe was pointing towards it being a murder.

"We did not find any sacrilege attempt or any evidence to back it. One person ran the gurdwara. This thing has moved to murder and inquiry is on," Channi said.

"The FIR (already registered in the case) will be amended," he said.

About 30 injuries, mostly sharp cuts likely to have been inflicted by swords, were found on the man's body, according to the postmortem report.

The lynching took place on Sunday, a day after a similar incident occurred at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where a man was killed over an alleged desecration bid.

In the first case too, police are yet to identify the man who jumped over the rails on the evening of Saturday, December 18, in the Golden Temple sanctum sanctorum and allegedly picked up the ceremonial sword.

A case under Section 295 A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) had been registered on the complaint of the gurdwara manager, who claimed that he saw the man trying to disrespect the 'Nishan Sahib' (religious flag).