Dera Sirsa empire: Rs 2,000 cr

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20 

The authorities have assessed the worth of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s Sirsa empire, including cash in banks and movable and immovable property, at Rs 2,000 crore. “Details have been prepared on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and a report submitted through the Court Commissioner,” said Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh.

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After the violence that followed Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s conviction on August 25, the High Court had ordered that the loss incurred be recovered from the dera. The district administration has already frozen the dera’s more than 90 bank accounts. The exact amount in these accounts could not be ascertained. But one  public sector bank said the dera had deposited Rs 40 crore in its Sirsa branch.

The dera, being a charitable trust, was exempted from paying income tax. Hence, salaries of employees in its newspapers, film production units and those working in its educational institutions, were deposited directly in their accounts.

Dera Sacha Sauda owns over 900 acres of prime land on the Sirsa–Nathusari Chopta–Bhadra road, stretching from Begu village at one end up to Nejia village on the other. “Going by the current market rate, the cost of the land alone should be Rs 600 crore to Rs 800 crore. It was, of course, much higher five years ago,” said sources.

The sect has several prime properties — a five-star hotel, a cinema hall, a multi-specialty hospital, eight educational institutions, a shopping mall, a cricket stadium, palatial houses and 30 units making biscuits, candies, mineral water, pickles, juices, cosmetics, seeds, pesticides and fertilisers. Some of these units have state-of-the-art equipment.

Also, the dera has a fleet of vehicles, including more than 24 luxury SUVs, each costing more than Rs 1 crore, tractors, fancy motorcycles and trucks.