Punjab Congress chief and former chief minister Amrinder Singh on Friday visited the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and met its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to seek the support of the sect followers in favour of his party for the January 30 assembly polls.
Last September on the eve of the release of Gurmeet Ram Rahim's MSG: The Warrior Lion Heart, Rediff.com's Patcy N and Afsar Dayatar attended a huge concert in Sirsa, Haryana, to promote the film.
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Trailers that just make your jaw drop. Watch here!
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's bat, with which the Indian cricket captain struck a historic World Cup-winning knock earlier this year, fetched a whopping 100,000 pounds in an auction for his charitable foundation.
The Dera's sprawling headquarters include an ostentatious '7-star MSG resort' with replicas of Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Kremlin and Disney World inside.
The premises of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's sect is spread over 800 acres and houses educational institutions, markets, hospital, stadium, recreational areas and houses.
The situation in violence-hit parts of Punjab and Haryana was limping back to normalcy on Tuesday with paramilitary forces personnel conducting flag marches in sensitive areas following Saturday's violence by supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh protesting against registration of a fresh murder case against him.
Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet was arrested from Zirakpur-Patiala road
Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Yudhvir Singh said that preliminary reports indicated that at the function, someone spread a rumour about the presence of a snake that led to devotees running helter-skelter leading to the stampede.
Bakshish Singh Baba, a hardcore militant caught by the Punjab Police was working towards the revival of terror outfit Khalistan Liberation Force and planning to carry out a series of explosions in the state at the behest of Pakistan's ISI, a senior police official said.
Known for his flashy outfits, the Dera chief was attired in a white kurta-pyjama with matching white shoes as the judge sentenced him to 20 years in jail.
The Dera Sacha Sauda chief and the three others convicted last Friday in the case appeared before the court through video conferencing.
The step was taken following questioning of another arrested functionary of the sect in connection with an alleged conspiracy to facilitate Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim's escape after he was convicted for raping two disciples, police said.
Resenting the filing of a murder case against the Dera Sacha Sauda head by the CBI, the sect supporters on Saturday went on a rampage setting ablaze four trains and around 37 vehicles, including 27 buses, and vandalized property in several places in Punjab and Haryana.
The United States needed two late goals, including a stoppage time winner, to beat El Salvador 2-1 in a friendly international on Wednesday.
Comedian Kiku Sharda was arrested by Haryana police on a complaint alleging he hurt religious sentiments by mocking Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
Tennis star Venus Williams plays soccer during a "Play with the Pros" event at EA Sports studios during the unveiling of their fall video games in Burnaby, British Columbia on Monday.
One of the six suspects, detained in connection with the attack on two visiting Indian Sikh preachers in Vienna in May, has been released due to lack of evidence. Three other suspects, including the alleged mastermind of the attack in which Dera Sacha Khand leader Guru Ramandand Dass was killed and Sant Niranjan Dass was severely injured, will remain in custody for the time being, while a decision on two other suspects would be taken next week, police said.
Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai has become Portsmouth's fourth owner in less than a year and will soon look to sell on to a fifth, the troubled Premier League club said on Thursday.
The protest came a day after the two countries agreed to develop a corridor on their respective side of the border to link a historic Sikh shrine in Kartarpur in Pakistan.
The CBI court is hearing the cases of killings of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and former Dera manager Ranjit Singh.
Non governmental organisations seeking curbs on circulation of the Nanavati Commission report giving clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi in the Godhra train carnage and subsequent riots got a setback as the Supreme Court on Monday disagreed that there was illegality in submitting an interim report.
Addressing mediamen at Wishvkarma Gurudwara at Mandi Dabwali, the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar (Panj-Pardhani) Daljit Singh Bittu said the Dera chief should be arrested and his activities should be stopped by the Union government. Protestors will pray at the Golden temple in Amritsar on July 19 before leaving for Delhi, Bittu added.
Train services in Punjab were suspended on Wednesday following blocking of tracks at several places by members of the Sikh community, who are demanding the arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in the wake of the Mumbai firing incident.The 'rail roko' call given by Damdami Taksal, Shiromani Akali Dal and certain radical Sikh organisations asked the protesters to remain peaceful.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was forced to leave Mysore for security reasons in the early hours of Monday, following protests from the Sikh community.Police sources said that Singh, who was shifted to Bangalore under tight security, left for Delhi by the early morning flight.There are widespread protests all over the country by the Sikh community, demanding Singh's arrest, after his security guards killed one person in Mumbai and fired at Sikh protest groups
The police on Sunday shifted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to an undisclosed destination for "security reasons" amid continued protests over the gunning down of a Sikh demonstrator in Mumbai while radical groups demanded the Dera Sacha Sauda chief's immediate arrest.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Saturday directed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to be present on August 23 to hear formal framing of charges against him in connection with a 1999 case involving the rape of a female disciple.Singh was not present in the court today owing to ill health, skipping a second successive appearance. The Dera chief is the lone accused in the case of alleged sexual exploitation involving a female sect member.
One person was killed when a group of Sikhs clashed with Dera Sacha Sauda supporters in Dabwali town in Sisra district of Chandigarh on Friday morning.
high level delegation led by Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal will visit Mumbai on Tuesday to meet the members of the family of Balkar Singh, who was killed in the incident of firing allegedly by private security guards of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
"Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency imparted the training to Gurpreet Singh," said Punjab Director-General of Police N P S Aulakh. Gurpreet Singh and two other suspected Babbar Khalsa militants were arrested near the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar on December 25. Aulakh said that Gurpreet went to Pakistan with a jatha of Sikh pilgrims and he was trained with another terrorist Harminder Singh. Gurpreet returned in mid-2007 to revive the terrorist module in the state.
The Dera chief was returning from Rajasthan when his vehicle was attacked, but he escaped unhurt, a senior official said.
Leaders have appealed to the participants to maintain peace and not to raise any kind of slogans.
The followers, owing allegiance to the 'Sant Samaj', an umbrella organisation of various Sikh bodies, congregated at a shrine at Fatehgarh Sahib as police took precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incidents.
The army was kept on standby and curfew imposed in Dabwali town in Haryana's Sirsa district on Friday after a group of Sikhs and supporters of the Dera Sacha Sauda fought pitched battles in which one person was killed and 30 injured. Late on Friday night, violence spread to Gukanwali village, about 25 km from Dabwali, as Sikhs attacked an ashram belonging to the Dera and set it on fire.
A car, part of the cavalcade of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, went up in flames in Haryana's Karnal district on Saturday. The driver of the car lost control after its engine developed trouble near village Manakmajra. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the car went up in flames, police said. Two people have been rounded up in connection with the incident, police said, adding it was too early to conclude whether it was an accident or an attack
Four staff members of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief held in connection with the gunning down of a 40-year-old Sikh outside a suburban mall were taken to the spot of the crime in order to reconstruct the sequence of events which led to the shooting, police said on Tuesday.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikh community.
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 decision has been taken to maintain peace in the area in wake of the Dera stand-off with Sikhs following the recent blasphemous act of Dera head Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
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