Entry into dera finally, not much found

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, September 8

Even as a geological team from IIT-Roorkee is busy trying to find out if anything incriminating is hidden underneath the floor of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s residence (called Gufa), the security agencies carrying out the search and sanitisation operations at Dera Sacha Sauda were unable to find anything of significance on the first day today.

An official spokesperson said Rs 12,000 in new currency, Rs 7,000 in demonetised currency, a Lexus SUV, an OB van, some ayurvedic medicines (without labels) and some plastic coins had been seized so far, besides some computers and hard disks.

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Two rooms were sealed while five children, including two minors, were rescued from a dera colony. The children (aged 10 and 12) are from Kaithal and Uttar Pradesh, respectively. They have been handed over to the Child Welfare Council.

The Roorkee team is equipped with machinery that can detect things hidden up to 7-10 metres beneath the floor in case of wetland and up to 20-30 metres in case of a desert. The security forces entered the dera this morning. The campus was divided into five sectors, each under the control of an SP-rank officer.

Mediapersons were stopped at Shah Satnam Singh Chowk, 7 km from the dera headquarters, and mobile Internet services were snapped. All roads leading to the dera were sealed.

The search was monitored by AKS Pawar, Court Commissioner appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh said 41 companies of paramilitary forces and four columns of the Army had been deployed for the purpose.

Gufa gate walled
Before his conviction, the dera chief, it appears, had shut the way to the sadhvis’ hostel from his residence, called Gufa. A gate opened to  the hostel, but the way had been blocked by a wall ‘recently built and painted’.