Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was released from Rohtak’s Sunaria prison early Tuesday morning on a 21-day furlough. Singh, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for raping two female followers, reportedly left the prison at 6:30 am.
Singh’s temporary release comes ahead of the Haryana Assembly elections scheduled for October, raising questions about the timing of the furlough.
The frequent paroles and furloughs granted to the Dera chief have sparked controversy and legal challenges in recent years.
This latest release follows closely on the heels of a decision by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to dismiss a petition challenging Singh’s repeated temporary releases. The court left it to the Haryana prisons department to decide on his furlough amid public outcry.
His latest release from jail comes months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court overturned a previous CBI court verdict that had convicted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of Dera manager Ranjit Singh.
The high court’s decision earlier this year acquitted the Dera chief, reversing the life imprisonment sentence handed down by the special CBI court in 2021.
Ranjit Singh was gunned down on July 10, 2002, in what the CBI described as a targeted killing orchestrated by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
The agency alleged that the Dera chief believed Ranjit Singh was responsible for circulating an anonymous letter that accused him of sexually exploiting female followers at his ashram in Sirsa, Haryana.