Honeypreet called the shots in dera chief’s murky world

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, September 10

Serving imprisonment in Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail for rape of two sadhvis, dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was handed over the reins of a religious sect by his predecessor Shah Satnam Singh in 1990. But he let the sect transform into a world of luxury and entertainment under the influence of Honeypreet.

Sources said though costly vehicles, designer clothes, ‘juttis’ and luxurious lifestyle were among Ram Rahim’s fads from the beginning, his inclination towards the world of entertainment started only after Honeypreet came into his life. “Though Honeypreet used to spend a lot of time with Ram Rahim ever since she started living at the dera, but she became a part of his life after her divorce from her husband, Vishwas Gupta,” tell sources.

The Tribune has learnt that it was at the instance of Honeypreet that Ram Rahim, first recorded songs and began staging “Ru-B-Ru Nights” where he appeared like a rockstar and finally entered the world of films.

Several Ru-B-Ru nights were held, each for two or three particular districts of Haryana or Punjab, where political leaders and officers were also invited. The nights were sold through bids with the highest bidder amongst the dera committee members getting the marketing rights.

Ram Rahim produced five films — MSG: The Messenger, MSG2: The Messenger, MSG: The Warrior Lion Heart, Hind Ka Napak Ko Jawab and Jattu Engineer — in less than three years with Ram Rahim and Honeypreet in lead roles.

The BJP government exempted Baba’s films from entertainment tax. While announcing his first film, Ram Rahim had announced that its profits will be donated for cancer research. Later, a press note was issued that a sum of Rs 51 lakh has been given to the dera’s multi-specialty hospital for research — the dera hospital had no research facilities or even oncology specialists.

After Ram Rahim started producing films, dera started its own cinema hall, Mahi, with Honeypreet’s biological mother, Asha Taneja, running a food park on its ground floor. Not only this, Ram Rahim also used to run “Big Boss” show in the dera.

Sources revealed that as his proximity with Honeypreet increased, Ram Rahim started distancing himself from his son, Jasmeet Singh, daughter-in-law Husanmeet Kaur, two daughters — Charanpreet Kaur and Amarpreet Kaur — and sons-in-law, Shan-e-Meet and Ruhe-e-Meet, respectively.

The dera chief’s wife never had any influence in the dera ever since he took over the reins in 1990 and many in the dera did not even remember her name. A stage had come wherein Ram Rahim’s son was not on speaking terms with his father and even his daughters could meet him occasionally.

A senior police officer said that the biggest problem for the authorities before conviction was whom to contact to ensure that he goes to Panchkula to attend the court hearing on August 25. “We knew none of his family members, except Honeypreet, had any access to him and he will do whatever she will ask him to do,” he said.

When mediapersons were sitting in the media centre of the dera on August 24 waiting for an answer on this issue, they were surprised to notice that even the media managers of the dera came to know of his decision to appear before the court from his Twitter page, which was also managed by Honeypreet.