Lagatar24 Desk
Chandigarh, Nov.8: A Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT) departed for the Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana on Monday morning to question Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with a 2015 sacrilege case.
Since his conviction in 2017 for raping two of his pupils, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been held in the Sunaria jail.
The chief of Dera Sacha Sauda has been listed as one of the suspects in the theft of a “bir” (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred book.
Officials said the four-member SIT, led by Inspector General SPS Parmar, departed Rajpura in the morning for the Sunaria jail. Senior Superintendent of Police M S Bhullar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Lakhvir Singh, and Inspector Dalbir Singh are the other members of the team.
Before leaving for Rohtak, Parmar informed reporters, “It is an investigation process that we are moving forward with.”
In response to a question about how long the Dera Sacha Sauda chief will be questioned, he said it would depend on whether he cooperated or not, as well as “if his answers are legitimate or not.”
The SIT has prepared a list of questions for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, according to him.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled last month that the Punjab Police could examine the Dera Sacha Sauda sect’s leader in jail in connection with the 2015 sacrilege case. However, the judge stated that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh will not be hauled to the Faridkot court in order to be produced.
The Faridkot court had already issued a production warrant in the case, requiring Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to appear before it on October 29.
The previous SAD-BJP government in Punjab had handed over three cases to the CBI, including the theft of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, the posting of handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, and torn pages of the holy book discovered in Bargari (CBI).
The Punjab government, on the other hand, transferred the investigation over to the state police’s SIT in September 2018, after the state Assembly passed a motion withdrawing consent for the CBI to examine these matters, citing a lack of progress.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2017 for rapping two of his disciples.
The Dera Sacha Sauda sect’s leader was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati more than two years ago.
In the 19-year-old murder case of sect manager Ranjit Singh, a special CBI court in Panchkula sentenced Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others to life in jail on October 18.
