I-T search at Dera Sacha Sauda on hold as court to decide on Oct 21

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17

A team of the Income Tax Department on Tuesday arrived in Sirsa to hold search operations in Dera Sacha Sauda, but it will have to wait for some days as a local court has adjourned till October 21 its decision on the team’s application.

The team of investigation wing of the Income Tax Department led by Assistant Director, Income Tax, Data Ram, came to Sirsa in the morning to conduct search operations as per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

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On September 28, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax (IT) Department to probe the allegations of money laundering surrounding the functioning of Dera Sacha Sauda and its assets in Punjab and Haryana said to be worth hundreds of crores of rupees.

When contacted by The Tribune, Data Ram refused to divulge any details and said only the Central Board of Direct Taxation in Delhi was authorised to share details with the media.

Sources said that since the police have already conducted search operations in the dera after conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and documents as well as computers and hard discs are already lying sealed with it, the Income Tax Department’s search implies inspection of these materials to see whether there is anything incriminating with regard to tax evasions.

Sources said the police, however, told the team that they could not share the data save with the permission of the court since the entire search operations were conducted under supervision of the court commissioner appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

After that, the income tax team moved an application before the Sirsa Chief Judicial Magistrate Vijay James for getting copies of the seized material from the police.

“The court has called for the record from Sirsa City Police Station with regard to FIR number 695 registered there with regard to the searches. The SHO sought time. Since, the next three days are court holidays, the court has fixed the next date of hearing on October 21,” says Ashish Singla, the Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department in Sirsa.

Police had conducted search operations in Dera Sacha Sauda from September 7 to 10 after the conviction of its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh that led to violence in Panchkula, Sirsa and some other parts resulting in death of 42 persons.