328 saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib missing from SGPC records

Who: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC); Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh; the Akal Takht's inquiry panel under retired Justice Navita Singh, assisted by advocate Ishar Singh; former SGPC staff including Kanwaljit Singh, Roop Singh and Satinder Singh Kohli; Bhai Baldev Singh Wadala, whose complaint and protest preceded the FIR; and SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami.

What: In June 2020 saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib were found to be missing from the records of the SGPC's publication house at Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib, Amritsar. Kanwaljit Singh, a former assistant supervisor there, raised the matter after retiring on 31 May 2020, saying about 80 saroops were destroyed in an accidental fire in 2016. The SGPC counted 267 missing between 18 September 2015 and 31 May 2020. On 24 August 2020 the five high priests met on the panel's report, which put the misappropriated saroops at 328, the extra 61 coming from the 2013-14 and 2014-15 ledgers, and feared at least 125 more were issued without receipts. The Akal Takht ordered stern action, and on 27 August 2020 the SGPC executive resolved on legal action against some employees.

The morcha for an FIR: For more than five years no one was prosecuted, and it took a morcha to change that. From 4 November 2020 members of the Sikh Sadbhawna Dal, led by Bhai Baldev Singh Wadala, a former Hazoori Ragi at Sri Darbar Sahib, and members of Gurdwara Akal Bunga held a sit-in on Heritage Street, the approach to Sri Darbar Sahib, demanding criminal proceedings against the staff the Akal Takht panel had indicted. In January 2021 members of the Dal gheraoed the Amritsar police commissioner's residence; Wadala said that despite their complaints the police took no action. In August 2022 the Dal's indefinite dharna near Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's residence in Sangrur was lifted by police at night; Wadala alleged the protesters were bussed to Patiala jail and dropped at distant gurdwaras, and he demanded a CBI probe. Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan visited the Heritage Street site. The morcha was still sitting, in its sixth year, when the case was finally registered.

On 7 December 2025, on a complaint by Gurlal Singh, Amritsar Police registered an FIR at C-Division police station against 16 people under IPC sections including 295, 295-A, 409, 465 and 120-B. A special investigation team (SIT) followed on 23 December. Satinder Singh Kohli was arrested around 2 January 2026, and Kanwaljit Singh in the first days of January, accused of direct involvement in irregularities. On 18 April 2026 an Amritsar magistrate granted Kanwaljit Singh default bail after more than 100 days in custody, because no chargesheet had been filed.

The SGPC contests the case. On 11 December 2025 its executive called the FIR a direct challenge to the Akal Takht and government interference, and Dhami said the matter was financial misappropriation by some employees, not sacrilege. In late January 2026 the SIT left the SGPC's Chandigarh office without the records it sought, and in April advocate Sarbjit Singh Verka alleged that key records were still not supplied.

Where: Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib, Amritsar, and the SGPC publication department.

Why it mattered: The case asks who answers for the saroops inside the Panth's own institution. The SGPC says it dealt with the matter through the Akal Takht process in 2020. It took a morcha of more than five years on the street outside Sri Darbar Sahib before the police would even register a case, and the Punjab government now says it will not tolerate sacrilege and will not spare anyone involved.