Dera Sacha chief gets another 40-day parole; as per rules, says official

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was on Friday again granted a 40-day parole, officials said.

The latest parole to the Dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping his two disciples, comes three months after he was granted a similar parole.

"The parole has been granted for 40 days. It has been granted as per rules," Rohtak's divisional commissioner Sanjeev Verma told PTI over the phone.

The Dera chief's last 40-day parole had ended on November 25 last year.

He had gone to his Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh after his release on October 14.

Earlier, Haryana jails minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, while commenting on the Dera chief's fresh parole plea, had said the latter had filed an application seeking a 40-day parole which had been forwarded to the Rohtak divisional commissioner.

During his parole period, the Dera chief is also likely to attend the birth anniversary event of former Dera chief Shah Satnam Singh on January 25, sources said.

During his previous parole period in October-November, the 55-year-old Sirsa Dera chief held several online 'satsangs' at the Barnawa ashram in UP. Some of these were also attended by BJP leaders from Haryana.

Prior to his October parole, the sect chief had come out of prison on a month-long parole in June.

He was also granted three weeks furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the apex religious body of the Sikhs, had earlier raised an objection after Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was granted a 40-day parole last year.

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 about three decades were not being released even after completing their sentences.

The Dera chief in 2021, along with four others, was also convicted 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 over 16 years ago.