Rape convicts Ram Rahim back in Haryana jail after 40-day parole ends

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

Chandigarh, Nov 25, 2022: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was back in Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district on Friday at the end of his 40-day parole.

 

The Dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping his two disciples, had gone to his Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh after his release on October 14.

"At the end of his parole, he (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh) returned to Sunaria jail Friday evening," a police official said.

Notably, during his parole period, the 55-year-old Sirsa Dera chief held several online ’satsangs’ at the Barnawa ashram. Some of these were also attended by BJP leaders from Haryana, including Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa.

The Dera chief’s parole had once again coincided with some polls in the region, the third such instance in the current year.

Haryana witnessed three-phase panchayat elections between October 30 and November 25, and the bypoll to the Adampur Assembly seat was held earlier this month.

The Dera chief had come out of prison on month-long parole in June ahead of the elections to 46 municipalities in Haryana.

He was granted three weeks furlough from February 7, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections.

The Sirsa Dera has a large number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, had earlier raised an objection to the 40-day parole of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami had alleged that while "special kindness" was being shown to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Sikh prisoners lodged in jails for three decades were not being released even after completing their sentences.

The Dera chief was last year also convicted along with four others for hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a dera manager.

The Dera chief and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.