Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh released on month-long parole ahead of Delhi polls

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was released on a month-long parole from the Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak on Tuesday, The Indian Express reported.

For the first time since being convicted in 2017 for raping two disciples, the religious leader will stay at the dera’s headquarters in Haryana’s Sirsa for 10 days before moving to the sect’s Baghpat ashram in Uttar Pradesh. He has lived in Baghpat earlier while out on parole.

Singh was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2017 for raping two of his women disciples at the dera’s Sirsa headquarters. In 2021, he and four others were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Ranjit Singh, a former manager in the sect.

Singh’s paroles and furloughs have often coincided with elections in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, where many of his followers reside. The latest has come a week ahead of Assembly elections in Delhi which is scheduled for February 5.

In October, Singh was granted a 20-day parole ahead of the Haryana Assembly elections.

He was released three times in 2022, including a 21-day furlough in February weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections. He also had parole from October 15 to November 25 that year, coinciding with the Adampur bye-poll that was won by Bharatiya…

Read more