The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
Ahead of the pronouncement of the sentence, police have left nothing to chance and have taken important functionaries of the sect, who could gather followers, into preventive custody.
The court of judicial magistrate first class Rahul Garg also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on Prithi Singh a resident of Baghapurana and Amardeep Singh and Mithu Singh, both residents of Malke village.
An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
A young woman said to be a follower of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect immolated herself at her house in a village near Bathinda on Friday, allegedly as she was upset due to the Dera-Sikh row.
The Sikh high priests have also demanded that Ram Rahim tender an unqualified apology for wearing clothes similar to that of the tenth Guru Gobind Singh.
Honeypreet is the only woman in the 'wanted' list.
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.
A local court on Thursday dismissed the case of alleged blasphemy against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and hurting sentiments of Sikhs in 2007. District and Sessions Judge Tejinder Singh accepted the report submitted by the state seeking dismissal of the case.
The request is under "active consideration" of the Union home ministry, he said.
Additional security personnel were deployed in the Poonch district on Monday even as a search operation was ongoing in the forested terrain of Dera ki Gali, where two Army vehicles were ambushed by heavily armed terrorists from across the border last week.
Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet was arrested from Zirakpur-Patiala road
The CBI court is hearing the cases of murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and former Dera manager Ranjit Singh.
The state government terminated the services of DAG Gurdas Salwara for carrying the bag of rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
The Dera Sacha Sauda chief and the three others convicted last Friday in the case appeared before the court through video conferencing.
Efforts continued to trace Dera chief's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan.
A local court on Thursday extended till October 15 the interim bail given to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in three cases of murder and sexual harassment
The court, however, directed the police to seek the Punjab government's permission before arresting the Sirsa-based Dera head.
The action came a day after the Dera Sacha Sauda expressed regret over "the chain of events" leading to violence in Punjab and said its head never intended to imitate Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru.
The Dera's sprawling headquarters include an ostentatious '7-star MSG resort' with replicas of Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Kremlin and Disney World inside.
Though Dentsu Aegis says C P Arora left the business in July 2016, his Twitter handle and LinkedIn profile continue to refer to him as Group CFO of Denstu India.
Dera Sacha Sauda followers went on a rampage setting fire to vehicles, buildings and railway stations following the conviction of their head -- Gurmeet Ram Rahim -- in a rape case.
Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who ran a local daily 'Poora Sacch', was shot a few months after he published an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually exploited by Singh at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.
There will not be any change in leadership, said Khattar after submitting a report to Shah on the violence in Haryana.
The situation in Sirsa remained tense but under control, according to police.
In case a shopkeeper does not have any change at his disposal if a customer pays Rs 100 for an item that costs Rs 70, the latter may have to make do with three plastic tokens of Rs 10 value each .
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.
Haryana and Punjab remained on high alert with officials warning that violent miscreants will be shot at sight.
The allegation is that the Dera plotted against VVIPs like Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and several others.
The CM also said the damage caused to some media personnel's equipment during the violence will be taken care of the government.
A special CBI team, escorted by heavily armed police, reached the Dera headquarters in Sirsa on Saturday morning and was made to wait for over three hours before the notice could be served to the Dera chief in his gufa (cave), CBI sources said.
Acting on the court's directive, the Punjab government had on Wednesday given the go-ahead for the arrest and prosecution of Dera Sacha Sauda head.
"I thought that rediff.com was only a portal and had nothing to do with news," he said.
"We are trying to simplify the draft statement which we will telephonically discuss with the Sikh leaders", he said.
Clarifying on reports of proving Ram Rahim Singh with 'luxurious' items, KP Singh said that no RO system or attendants have been provided to him, as it was said in media reports.
The home ministry, which is closely monitoring the situation in these states, will give all possible assistance to them to tackle the situation
The losses caused to property due to violence and arson by the followers of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh will be recovered from Dera Sacha Sauda, the Punjab and Haryana high court ruled on Fridayy, according to a senior government lawyer.
The release of the movie was cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal.
As the Sikh's highest temporal seat gave an ultimatum to the Punjab government to close down the Deras by May 27, it rejected the regret expressed by Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
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.
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