Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Released On 40-Day Parole Again

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

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s previous 40-day parole had ended on November 25 last year. He had gone to his Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh following his release on October 14.

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New Delhi: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was on Saturday released from Sunaria prison in Haryana's Rohtak district after being granted 40-day parole the previous day. The latest parole to the Dera chief, serving a 20-year jail term for raping his two disciples, came 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 news agency PTI.

#WATCH | Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh released from Sunaria prison in Rohtak district of Haryana after being granted 40-day parole.

He has been convicted in a rape case. pic.twitter.com/6SK000mK5b

— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2023

The Dera chief’s previous 40-day parole had ended on November 25 last year. He had gone to his Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh following his release on October 14.

Commenting on the Dera chief's fresh parole plea, Haryana Jails Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala had earlier 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 likely to attend the birth anniversary event of former Dera chief Shah Satnam Singh on January 25, PTI reported citing sources.

In his previous parole period in October-November, the 55-year-old Ram Rahim conducted online 'satsangs' at the Barnawa ashram in UP, some of these were attended by BJP leaders from Haryana.

Before 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 (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, had 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.

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 over 16 years ago.