Sirsa dera head out on 21-day furlough

Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape and murder convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim was released on a 21-day furlough from Sunaria jail in Rohtak district on Wednesday.

He left for the Sirsa dera under tight security this morning will stay there during the period. It is for the 13th time that the dera chief has been released from the jail.

He is undergoing 20-year imprisonment in connection with the rape of two of his disciples. He has also been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

In a video clip, Gurmeet Ram Rahim could be heard congratulating his followers ahead of the dera’s foundation day.

In the past, some of Singh’s paroles and furloughs have coincided with polls in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring states. In January, he was granted a 30-day parole, which came ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly poll.

The dera chief was granted a 20-day parole on October 1 last year. That had come ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly poll.

In August last year, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was granted three weeks’ furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly poll.

Sikh organisations like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have in the past criticised the grant of relief to Singh.

In May last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court here acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect’s former manager Ranjit Singh, citing “tainted and sketchy" investigations in the matter. A special CBI court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder case. Singh had been held guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.

The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states. In Haryana, the dera has a sizeable number of followers in many districts including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar. (With agency inputs)

Haryana Tribune