After days of unrest in Punjab over the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, the Punjab Police has said that it has found evidence of foreign funding behind the act.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has also reportedly said that "outside agencies" were responsible for the crisis in the state that is said to be the worst in nearly a decade, NDTV reported.
"The police has also unearthed the track used in foreign funding for carrying out the nefarious designs to vitiate the hard-earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in Punjab," Additional Director General of Police IPS Sahota told the news channel.
According to IANS, the two people arrested for the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib on Tuesday have revealed to the Punjab police that they had received instructions from people in Australia.
Funding for the desecration of the holy books also came from individuals in Dubai, as per reports.
Tensions flared in Punjab's Faridkot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Bathinda over the past days after reports of sacrilege of the holy books, and several Sikh protesters took to the streets, vandalising vehicles and clashing with the police.
CM Badal had called an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address the issue, while paramilitary forces had been deployed in several parts of the state on Tuesday.
The Badal family has called the events a 'conspiracy' to create unrest in Punjab.
"A conspiracy was hatched to set Punjab on fire and the faces behind it have come to the fore," Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
