£50,000 Reward to catch Sikh temple 'arsonist'

London, UK, May 17, 2009
Surjit Rakhra

Two months past, no body has been arrested and police described this fire as suspicious.

NRI sikhs held a demonstration opposite the gurdwara park and Jagmohan Singh, a trustee told media:

• Members of an east London Sikh temple have offered a £50,000 reward towards catching the culprit.
• They also in the process of raising at least £4 million to rebuild the sikh temple and work had been already started last month
• This is not only attack on the building but was an attack on the Sikh religion
• We are helping police by reward and assistance, so police could do more
• The whole NRI sikh community won't sleep until the arsonist is caught.

We really appreciate the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) which has sent a 'Darshani Chanani' from Sri Harmandar Sahib to inaugurate the first Diwan at Gurdwara Sikh Sangat. They also delivered chanani and rumalai sahib.

East London, Gurdwara Sikh Sangat in Bow

Racist, Arsonist attacks Gurdwara Sikh Sangat in Bow, East London
75% of the building damaged in fire

London, UK, March 17, 2009
Surjit Rakhra

The Fire Brigade confirmed that 75 per cent of the East London, Gurdwara Sikh Sangat in Bow has been badly damaged in a fire.

About 2pm, a group of 10 women in a prayer session, had spotted the intruder who entered the Gurdwara and managed to escape just before the fire started. First, the women thought he was a robberand when women got upstairs, they discovered the fire raging. Women described the suspected arsonist as being black or mixed-race. The women managed to get to safety in the street as the flames swept through the building.

More than 50 firefighters had been battling the flames for nearly six hours and continued to pour water on the ruined structure. There’s lots of smoke and huge flames coming out the top of the roof. Fire experts and the police are carrying out investigations as to how the fire started.

All the holy books are being destroyed.

The Gurdwara building is of historic significance and had previously been both a Church and Synagogue and had been under renovation