Accepting the recommendation of the Justice (retired) Ranjit Singh Commission, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh on Monday announced his government’s decision to hand over the probe into Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing that followed the Bargari sacrilege to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CM also announced compensation and jobs for families of the victims of the police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan that took place on October 14, 2015. The government, he further said, had decided to enhance the compensation amount from that recommended by the Commission, whose report was legally examined by Advocate General Atul Nanda before being considered by the government.

Addressing a Press conference, Amarinder said the decision to hand over to CBI further probe into the matter against all those implicated by the Commission had been taken to ensure an impartial and objective investigation after registering a case under Section 307 IPC. The role of all the police officers named by the Commission will be probed by the CBI and all documents related to the incidents will be handed over to the agency, said the CM.

Very senior officers could be involved so it was felt that the matter was best investigated by the CBI, he added. The CBI is already probing certain other cases of sacrilege of Holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which were handed over to the Central agency by the state government earlier.

The Commission of Enquiry had submitted its first (part-I) report on 30 June, 2018. Though the full report is awaited, the government has decided to accept the recommendations made by the Commission so far, said Amarinder.

The report of the Commission would be laid on the floor of the Punjab Assembly in its next session after the Commission completes its proceedings. The complete report, running into 182 pages with thousands of pages of evidence, will be in four parts and all four would be tabled in the House with the action taken report, the CM said.

In the first part, the Commission has covered incidents of sacrilege of the holy book of the Sikhs at villages Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, Bargari, Gurusar and Mallke between 1 June 2015 and 12 June 2015 and police action involving firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan on 14 October 2015, leading to death of two persons and injuries to some other persons.