Chandigarh, Jan 4: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, currently serving a 20-year sentence for raping two disciples and lodged in Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak, has been granted another 40-day parole, sources confirmed Sunday.
This latest release follows a 40-day parole granted in August last year.
Singh was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2017 for sexually assaulting two of his followers. In 2019, he and three others were additionally convicted for murdering a journalist over 16 years earlier.
Beyond last August’s parole, Singh received a 21-day furlough in April and 30-day parole in January, just ahead of the February 5 Delhi assembly elections.
He was similarly granted 20-day parole on October 1, 2024—days before Haryana’s October 5 assembly polls.
In August 2024, Singh secured another 21-day furlough. He also obtained a three-week furlough starting February 7, 2022, merely two weeks before Punjab’s assembly elections.
Including this latest parole, Singh has been released from prison 15 times since his 2017 conviction.
Sikh organizations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, have repeatedly criticized the repeated grants of relief to Singh.
On most of his 14 previous releases, Singh stayed at the Dera’s ashram in Bagpat district, Uttar Pradesh.
The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda commands substantial followings across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states. In Haryana alone, the organization maintains considerable influence in multiple districts, including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar.
