Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar on Wednesday appeared before a Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating police firing on mobs protesting the 2015 incidents of desecration of the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab.
The 51-year-old actor was earlier summoned to Amritsar, but then given the option of appearing before the investigators in Chandigarh.
The questioning began around 9.45 a.m. and was recorded on video.
The actor landed at the Chandigarh airport on a chartered flight from Mumbai earlier in the day, while coming out of the Chandigarh airport, he told the media in Punjabi: “Tussi vi aao, naal challo” (You too, come along). He drove straight to the high-security state police headquarters.
According to the reports, he remained inside the headquarters for almost two hours.
Akshay is accused of arranging a meeting between former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Dera Sacha Sauda sect leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The star has denied any such meeting with Dera chief, who is serving a jail term in two rape cases.
According to the sources, the SIT grilled Akshay regarding the alleged deal, his relationship with Dera chief and Badal. He was also asked if the Dera chief lived in the same locality in Mumbai as his.
On November 12, Kumar had issued the denial after the SIT summoned him along with former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
“It has come to my knowledge that some rumours and false statements are being loosely made on social media about my involvement with a person named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the context of a fictitious meeting involving Sukhbir Singh Badal,” Kumar had said in tweet.
“With all humility, I would like to state the following facts. I have never ever met Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in my life, anywhere. I learnt from social media at some point that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh resided for a while at some place in my locality Juhu in Mumbai, but we never crossed each other’s paths,” Kumar added.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal were already questioned by SIT.
The five-member SIT was set up by the Punjab government in September this year.
