ACTOR AKSHAY Kumar is likely to record his statement with the Punjab police Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing incidents of police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015 following desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari, Faridkot, at Chandigarh instead of Amritsar after the actor made a request in this regard. He may appear before the SIT Wednesday. Inspector General Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, one of the members of the five-member SIT, said Akshay had made the request a couple of days ago. The actor was informed the SIT was ready to record his statement either in Amritsar or Chandigarh. He then informed the SIT that he would appear before it in Chandigarh. On November 9, SIT had issued summons under section 160 of Criminal Procedure Code to SAD supremo and former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Akshay Kumar, asking the trio to appear before the SIT at Amritsar on November 16, November 19 and November 21 (Wednesday), respectively. However, the SIT eventually recorded Badal’s statement at his official residence in Chandigarh after it was pointed out by some that Badal, who is over 65 years of age, could not have been summoned under the law to an outstation place. Sukhbir’s statement, too, was recorded in Chandigarh, at police headquarters on November 19 after the SAD president made a request to the SIT chief, Prabodh Kumar, in this regard. Advertising The SIT is tight-lipped on what led it to summon Akshay Kumar in the investigations. The name of the actor figured in the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report that probed the incidents of desecration and police firing after a witness recorded a statement, saying Akshay was involved in a ‘deal’ for the release of the film ‘MSG-2’ in Punjab and mediated in a meeting in which Sukhbir Badal was present. Both Sukhbir and Akshay have denied the claim. After the SIT recorded his statement on November 19, Sukhbir claimed to mediapersons that he never met Akshay outside Punjab and that he had only met the actor during a sports event in Punjab. After SIT summons, Akshay, too, issued a statement saying he had never met Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

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