Dera Sacha Sauda chief granted month-long parole, leaves Rohtak jail

Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of a prison in Haryana's Rohtak Friday morning on a month-long parole.

Haryana's Jails Minister Ranjit Chautala said the 30-day parole was granted by the Rohtak Divisional Commissioner on the recommendation from officials concerned.

According to the minister, Singh had said in his plea he wanted to go to the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram, Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Bhagpat.

A go-ahead from the administration in Baghpat was taken before clearance was given for the parole, the minister said.

"He has been granted a month-long parole and he came out of the prison on Friday," a senior police official from Rohtak told PTI.

The sect chief is serving a 20-year term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the Dera is headquartered. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017.

Earlier in February, he was given 21-day furlough which was just days ahead of the assembly polls in Punjab.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had then rejected any link between the sect leader's release and the Punjab elections. The Dera chief had then stayed in Gurugram with his family.