Dera Sacha Sauda chief walks out of Rohtak jail after being granted 40-day parole

Chandigarh, Jan 21 (PTI)Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak on Saturday after he was granted a 40-day parole.

Singh came out of the prison in the afternoon, a police official from Rohtak said.

He will be going to the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram at Barnawa in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, another official said.

The latest parole to the dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, comes three months after he was granted another 40-day parole.

“The parole has been granted for 40 days. It has been granted in accordance with rules,” Rohtak’s Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Verma had said on Friday.

The period of the previous parole granted to Singh had ended on November 25. While out on parole, the dera chief had gone to his Barnawa ashram after his release from the prison on October 14.

Haryana Jails Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala had earlier said Singh had filed an application seeking a 40-day parole, which was forwarded to the Rohtak divisional commissioner.

Singh is also likely to attend a 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 “satsang” sessions at the Barnawa ashram. Some of these sessions were attended by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Haryana.

Prior to his October parole, the sect chief had come out of the prison on a month-long parole in June. Besides, he was granted three weeks’ furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls.

In 2021, the dera chief, 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 more than 16 years ago.