Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib funds embezzled, 5 suspended

Tribune News Service

Anandpur Sahib, July 1

Even as the footfall at all religious places remained negligible during the lockdown, the management at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib allegedly purchased green vegetables and fruit worth lakhs of rupees for langar.

Green vegetables are rarely served at langars in gurdwaras. Fruits are served only to VIPs who visit on festivals or to attend meetings.

Finding these purchases suspicious, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal has suspended manager Jasvir Singh, deputy manager Lakhvinder Singh, accountant Kaur Singh, inspector Bakhshish Singh and store keeper Harmandar Singh and ordered an inquiry.

Interestingly, a mere Rs 1 lakh were found in the cash box (golak) as offerings at the gurdwara during lockdown while the management entered bills of nearly Rs 2.5 lakh against purchase of fruits during the same period.

In fact, due to the thin footfall, the SGPC had issued an appeal to people to send ration to gurdwaras as offerings were almost nil during the lockdown. Following this, several people from the region, including SGPC members Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa and Ajmer Singh Khera, with help of their supporters, brought truck loads of ration to Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib.

This is, however, not the first irregularity unearthed by the SGPC at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib. Recently, a scam of nearly Rs 5 lakh of fake receipts issued to devotees against ‘kadah parshad’ was also detected.

SGPC secretary Mohinder Singh Ahli confirmed that five employees have been suspended.