Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim files plea in HC against ‘arrest’

Chandigarh, October 27

Just about two days after a Faridkot court issued production warrants of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with a sacrilege case, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking bail in case of his arrest. He is currently lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail following his conviction in another case.

In his plea listed for hearing on Thursday, the dera chief through senior counsel Vinod Ghai and advocate Kanika Ahuja has sought directions to the arresting officer to release him on bail forthwith in event of his arrest in connection with the FIR No. 63, registered on June 2, 2015, under Sections 380 and 295-A of IPC at the Bajakhana police station in Faridkot district.

Among other things, the dera chief argued that the special investigating team looking into the matter moved an application for his production warrants, “now with the change in the head of the state government”. This, he argued, was done belatedly after more than one year and four months.

“This application is not only ilegal but politically motivated keeping in view the coming Assembly election in the state,” he alleged.Referring to Section 267 of the CrPC, he added a warrant for producing a prisoner could only be issued for the limited purposes of answering a charge or giving evidence. It could not be issued for handing the prisoner’s custody to the investigating agency in the aid of an ongoing investigation. — TNS