Dera chief granted 21-day furlough

Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Tuesday walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak after he was granted a 21-day furlough.

During his temporary release period, Singh will stay at the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat.

The Sirsa-headquartered Dera sect chief was granted the temporary release days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee's (SGPC) petition against Singh's temporary release.

The high court on August 9 observed that a plea for temporary release by the Dera chief should be considered by the competent authority without any 'arbitrariness or favouritism'.

In June, Singh moved the high court and sought directions to grant him a 21-day furlough.

On February 29, the high court directed the Haryana government not to grant further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief without its permission.

He had been granted a 50-day parole on January 19.

According to the warrant for his temporary release, the Dera chief was released from custody on furlough for a period of 21 days, subject to conditions that he shall reside at the Dera's Shah Satnam Ji Ashram in Barnawa during this period.

He will also not be allowed to visit any place not specified in the warrant without the district magistrate's prior permission, it said.

The warrant also said that Singh would provide to the district magistrate concerned full particulars of the place where he intended to reside during the period of his temporary release at the time of his release and keep the official informed of any subsequent change in residence.

The warrant also requires Singh to keep peace and maintain good behaviour.

After the expiry of his 21-day furlough, Singh will have to surrender to the superintendent of the jail from which he was released to undergo the unexpired period of his sentence, it said.

The in-charge of the police station concerned will keep a close watch on the conduct and activities of the convicted prisoner during the temporary release and submit a report to the jail superintendent through the deputy commissioner or superintendent of police as early as possible, it said.

Singh is serving a 20-year sentence for raping two of his disciples and is lodged in the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district.

He was sentenced in 2017.

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

In May, the high court 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.