Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of rape and murder, has been granted a 40-day parole, marking the 15th time he has been released since his conviction in 2017.
On many of the 13 occasions in the past, when Singh was out of jail, he remained at the Dera's ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Bagpat district.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of a journalist, overturning a previous conviction by a special CBI court.
The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states.
During his temporary release period, Singh will go to the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, they further said.
The Dera chief has sought to stay in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, during the parole period, if granted.
This comes months after Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak after being granted a 21-day furlough in April.
The parole comes two months after the Sirsa-headquartered sect chief had walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district on November 21 last year after he was granted a 21-day furlough -- his third temporary release from jail in 2023.
According to a police official from Rohtak, Singh returned to Sunaria jail late afternoon.
He has been incarcerated since 2017 in Haryana's Sunaria jail where he is serving a 20-year term for raping two women disciples at his ashram's headquarters in Sirsa.
Haryana Jail Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala also said, "Gurmeet Ram Rahim is like every other prisoner here and he also has his fundamental rights."
Was Ram Rahim's release on parole for the 10th time since his conviction in 2017 timed to coincide with the Haryana assembly elections? It does seem so when one considers he has been released mostly when there was an election in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Listing the times that Ram Rahim has been out on parole.
The sect chief is serving a 20-year term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the Dera is headquartered.
The move comes just ahead of the Adampur bypoll, which is scheduled to be held on November 3.
The latest parole to the Dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping his two disciples, comes three months after he was granted a similar parole.
The Sirsa-headquartered sect chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, walked out of the Sunaria prison in Haryana's Rohtak on Saturday after being granted a 40-day parole and reached Barnawa Ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat.
The sect chief said this was only a media speculation, and that he is, was, and will continue to head the sect, which has a large number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been given Z-plus security cover during his 21-day release on furlough from a Haryana jail where he has been serving a sentence, officials said on Tuesday." a recent communication from a senior Haryana police official to the Rohtak Range commissioner said.
The sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the dera is headquartered.
At least 22 people were injured in sporadic incidents of violence -- most of them attacks on Dera properties by Sikh protestors even as thousands of Sikhs laid siege to a Dera ashram in Salabatpura in Bhatinda district.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has sought a ban on ashrams run by 'godmen' like Rampal, saying they have become centres of "terror" in the name of faith.
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.
Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district on Thursday after he was granted a 30-day parole.
Deras like Sacha Sauda made the poor feel secure, cared for, loved, provided a support system and gave them dignity, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim also made an appeal to his followers to go back to their homes, a development which may come as a big relief to security personnel.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a prison sentence in a Haryana jail, was granted a three-week furlough on Monday, a reprieve that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said had nothing to do with elections.
The bureaucracy in Haryana blamed the government for inexperience and criminal negligence.
BJP leaders are continuously trying to defend their participation in the event.
In scenes reminiscent of Godman Rampal's ashram, heavy police was deployed outside an ashram in Nurmahal in Punjab's Jalandhar district as followers of godman Ashutosh Maharaj are refusing to cremate him.
Dera Sacha Sauda, a quasi-religious cult with hundreds of thousands of followers, offers a wide variety of products and educational and health services, its website states.
A look at few gurus who have attracted controversy in recent times.
Rampal won't walk free as he is facing several other charges including murder.
'We realised that the government and police were shielding the Dera chief.' 'From 2002 to now, irrespective of which political party, the Dera has always been protected.'
Justice Jagdeep Singh read out the verdict as soon as the special CBI Court began the hearing on the case on Friday.
Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security as the three states have a large number of followers of Asaram.
The controversy over Sant Rampal and his army of followers taking the law into their hands has once again thrown the spotlight on the clout that India's godmen possess.
Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial.
