The appointment of Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota as DGP Punjab and APS Deol as advocate general (AG) prompted Navjot Singh Sidhu to resign as state Congress president on Sept 28. Fast forward
to Sept 30, Sidhu is still opposing said appointments as he retweeted an old video related to the 2015 sacrilege case.
In his recent tweet, Sidhu stated, “DGP IPS Sahota was head of SIT investigating Beadbi case under Badal Govt, he wrongfully indicted two Sikh youth for sacrilege & gave a
clean chit to Badals. In 2018, I along with INC Ministers, then PCC Pres & present Home Minister assured them of our support in fight for Justice.”
The video linked with his tweet was dated May 11, 2021. It features Navjot Sidhu meeting “Rupinder Singh and Jasvinder Singh, the innocent victims of Police brutality under Badal
regime”
On October 20, 2015, then-Punjab Bureau of Investigation chief Additional General of Police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota announced that two people had been arrested in connection with the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari village in Faridkot. Rupinder Singh and his elder brother Jaswinder Singh, both residents of Panjgraian village in Faridkot were named as the culprits. Sahota also claimed that the sacrilege episode was the work of radical groups based abroad.
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Two transcripts were produced by Sahota: one between an unknown person in Australia and Rupinder “about some transaction,” and the other between Rupinder and Jaswinder, which reportedly suggested they were engaged in the Bargari sacrilege incident, in which pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found strewn about.
However, two days later the "unknown caller" in the transcript appeared on an Australian radio show, identified himself as Sukhjit Singh, a resident of Kotkapura who now lives in Melbourne. He trashed the police version of "foreign hand," saying he sent money to Rupinder for treatment after learning that Rupinder was injured during the protest against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.
As the public's outrage over the police theory increased, the brothers had to be released within days.
Rupinder and Jaswinder were allegedly subjected to third-degree torture in the presence of Sahota, who has now been given additional charge of Punjab DGP by Chief Minister Channi.