Chandigarh, Sep 11 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday skipped appearance before a Special Investigation Team probing the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing incident in Punjab, citing medical grounds.Badal, who was summoned by the SIT to appear before it at the Punjab Police Officers Institute (PPOI) in Sector 32 here, sought time for appearance after September 30.SAD leader Parambans Singh Bunty Romana, accompanied by party leader Arshdeep Singh Kler, told reporters here that Badal had to undergo a medical checkup for the injury he sustained in an attack in Maharashtra's Nanded last month.Badal had emailed his preoccupation to the SIT, Romana said.He said that he has already demanded a written questionnaire and this demand has been reiterated before the SIT.Romana said, "We have been cooperating at every stage even knowing that these are politically biased SITs....We have been telling them to give a written questionnaire. Why are they scared of giving a written questionnaire?."  On August 13, Badal sustained injuries to his right hand in a 'kirpan' (ceremonial dagger) attack by a member of the Nihang order inside a gurdwara on the outskirts of Nanded town. The attacker was later arrested.

Badal had previously appeared before the SIT on July 20.Incidents related to the theft of a copy of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, and torn pages of the holy book scattered at Bargari, occurred in Faridkot in 2015.These incidents led to massive anti-sacrilege protests in Faridkot in October 2015. In the police firing on protesters, two persons -- Gurjeet Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh -- were killed in Behbal Kalan, while some people were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot.The Akali Dal was in power in Punjab at the time, with late Parkash Singh Badal being the chief minister and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal his deputy also holding the home portfolio.

Agencies