Chandigarh: Dera Sacha Sauda head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is lodged in Sunaria Jail in Haryana's Rohtak serving sentences for raping two female followers, was granted a 30-day parole, the 16th release from the prison since his conviction of 20 years in 2017. 

He was granted a 40-day parole each in January this year and in August 2025, followed by a 21-day furlough in April 2025 and a 30-day parole in January 2025 ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections and several other paroles and furloughs.

This morning, the self-styled godman was released amid tight security, and he will remain at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa, Haryana, during the parole period.

His counsel, Jitender Khurana, told the media that he is barred from holding physical gatherings with followers but is permitted to address them virtually.

The Dera Sacha Sauda, which is headquartered in Sirsa, has a sizeable following across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and several other states. In Haryana, the organisation enjoys considerable influence in districts such as Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar. 

The Punjab and Haryana High Court in March acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002. His acquittal came seven years after a special CBI court had convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The verdict was delivered by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal while hearing appeals challenging the 2019 conviction in the case. However, the Bench dismissed the appeals filed by two other accused. The self-styled godman's acquittal came after the Bench scrutinised the evidence following controversy over the bullets allegedly used in the crime.

 A special CBI court in Haryana’s Panchkula town in 2019 convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Chhatrapati. Three others, Krishan Lal, Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh, who were close aides of the sect chief, were also convicted by the court.

Chhatrapati was shot at in October 2002 and died later. The CBI had registered the case on November 10, 2003, the orders of the High Court and took over the investigation of the case, which was earlier registered at the police station in Sirsa.

(IANS)