Sirsa Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim walks out of jail on 21-day furlough

Chandigarh, August 13

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim on Tuesday walked out of Rohtak’s Sunaria jail on a 21-day furlough. He was released after Rohtak Divisional Commissioner passed an order in his favour.

During his temporary release period, the Dera chief will go to Baghpat ashram in Uttar Pradesh.

On August 9, the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of the SGPC’s petition which challenged the grant of temporary release to Ram Rahim, observing that a plea for temporary release be considered by the competent authority without any “arbitrariness or favourtism”.

Ram Rahim in June this year had moved the high court, seeking directions to grant him a 21-day furlough.

On February 29, the high court had asked the Haryana Government not to grant further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief without its permission.

Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples. He was granted a 50-day parole on January 19.

The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

In May this year, the high court had acquitted Ram Rahim and four others in the 2002 murder of sect’s former manager Ranjit Singh, citing “tainted and sketchy” investigations in the matter.

A special CBI court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder case. Ram Rahim had been held guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.