Justice L N Mittal directed the Dera chief to join the investigations on August 17 at his Dera headquarters in Sirsa in Haryana. The judge directed that he shall cooperate with the investigating officer and shall not pose any hindrance in performance of duties by the investigators.

Punjab Police had registered a case at Bathinda on May 20 charging Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh with Section 295-A (hurting religious sentiments) following the standoff between Dera followers and the Sikhs after he had appeared in a dress similar to that of Sikh Guru Gobind Singh in various newspaper advertisements.

The court directed that the interim bail given to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on June 29 would continue.

During the course of hearing, the Punjab government counsel said that in pursuance of earlier order when the investigating team went to Sirsa for search they had "humiliating experience and were searched by the men of Singh."

Taking cognizance of the statement, Justice Mittal ordered that the police team shall not be searched by the men of the Dera chief. But the security team provided by the government in view of his Z-plus categorisation may search the investigating team after showing their identity cards, the court said.

The court also directed that Singh shall remain present and join investigations as and when required in future and adjourned the matter to September 19.

The state counsel submitted that during the earlier investigation at Sirsa, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh handed over a passport to the investigating officer, but that passport does not contain complete name of the petitioner (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh).