Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has returned to Sunaria jail in Rohtak after his 21-day furlough concluded. This marks his 17th temporary release since his 2017 conviction for rape. Singh, who is serving a 20-year sentence, recently saw acquittals in two separate 2002 murder cases by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
According to a police official from Rohtak, Singh returned to Sunaria jail late afternoon.
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.
Controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted for rape, has been granted a 21-day furlough, marking his 17th temporary release from jail.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea against the Punjab and Haryana high court order acquitting Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of a journalist.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is serving a 20-year sentence for raping two women disciples.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of Dera Sacha Sauda, has been acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana high court in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, a verdict that is being challenged in the Supreme Court.
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.
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.
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.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's former jailer Sunil Sangwan has won the Charkhi Dadri seat in Haryana as Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder of a journalist, citing a failure by the prosecution to prove its case and questioning the CBI's investigation.
Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.
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.
Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted a 21-day furlough.
During his temporary release period, Singh will go to the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, they further said.
The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states.
The Dera chief has sought to stay in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, during the parole period, if granted.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji was hearing a petition of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee which had challenged the grant of temporary release to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
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 move comes just ahead of the Adampur bypoll, which is scheduled to be held on November 3.
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.
This comes months after Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak after being granted a 21-day furlough in April.
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.
The move came days after the Supreme Court vacated the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial in three sacrilege cases.
Former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, who was also a follower of the sect, was shot dead in 2002.
Haryana Jail Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala also said, "Gurmeet Ram Rahim is like every other prisoner here and he also has his fundamental rights."
BJP leaders are continuously trying to defend their participation in the event.
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.
The 51-year-old sect head is currently serving a 20-year prison term in Rohtak's Sunaria jail for raping two of his women followers.
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.
A special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday convicted Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in 2002.
said the CBI verdict has been challenged on several grounds. "One of the grounds was that there was a delay of more than six years in recording the statements of the women (victims) by the CBI after the incident," the defence counsel said.
The dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two disciples, was granted 40-day parole on January 20.
Ram Rahim did not talk with anyone and was seen roaming in the cell.
The 50-year-old self-styled godman, who boasted of millions of followers, is lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria jail for raping his two disciples.
"He withdrew his parole application on Monday," a senior official of Haryana Prisons Department said, refusing to divulge further details.
The Dera Sacha Sauda chief and the three others convicted last Friday in the case appeared before the court through video conferencing.
The court in Panchkula had convicted Ram Rahim and four others -- Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil -- in the murder case on October 8.
Sidhu in a press conference on Friday had questioned the Channi-led state government over the steps taken for the delivery of justice in the cases of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and drug trafficking.
