The Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing has registered a case against Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa and others on charges for cheating and embezzlement of Gurdwara funds.
Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing registered a case against Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa and others on charges for cheating and embezzlement of Gurdwara funds
— ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2021
Delhi court calls allegations against Manjinder Singh Sirsa “serious in nature”, orders probe
The Delhi police have acted on an order passed by a Delhi court in November last year. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Dhirendra Rana, on November 7, had directed the Delhi police to register an FIR against Manjinder Singh Sirsa and other unknown persons in the committee for the misappropriation of funds while Sirsa was the general secretary of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee in 2013.
Calling the allegations “serious in nature”, the Additional chief metropolitan magistrate had said that the matter needs to be investigated.
The order was passed following a complaint by one Bhupinder Singh who had contended that the current DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who was the general secretary of the committee then in 2013, had caused a loss of public funds to the tune of Rs 65,99,729 by showing sham transactions with various entities and raising fictitious bills without any actual goods or services being provided.
Delhi court orders the DCP, Economics Offences Wing, to investigate the matter
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Dhirendra Rana had also said that the bills submitted to the court did not bear the signatures of anyone from the DSGMC and investigation is required to check why Sirsa had claimed payment on such bills. Saying that the bills “look fictitious prima facie”, the court said that it is a matter of investigation as to who approved these bills and how. The court had then ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Economics Offences Wing (EOW), to investigate the matter.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa comes out in his defence
When the issue came to the fore, a blame game began. Sirsa said in his defence: “There are no allegations against me. The court has said that payments should be investigated to ascertain whether there are proper bills available or not. The bills were approved by the then president Manjit Singh GK and not by me.”
Meanwhile, Manjit Singh GK, the former DSGMC president denied his role and said that Sirsa was trying to mislead everyone. “The court has named Sirsa and asked for an FIR to be registered in his name. I have evidence that he had got the payments made under his signatures for erecting tents at the homes of top Akali leaders. As per the DSGMC Act 1971, that governs the working of Gurdwara committee, the general secretary is the administrative head as he is in charge of accounts, purchase and personal matters.”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also jumped into the entire fiasco and demanded that Sirsa be suspended as the president of DSGMC.
